
ev.T. Willi sto 




J LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.? 

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J UNITED STATES OF AMERICA* 



{ill! to mi jjiile jjia£§ : 

Mind alone eternal, matter non-eternal ; 

Is the Bible a God-given book ? 

how read it advantageously ? 

The magnitude <of littles ; 

WITH SEYEEAL OTHEE IMPOETANT THEMES. 



jk. book, for Bible Plasses and the youNG. 



BY REV. TIMOTHY WILLISTON. 






7Ao3%& 



NEW YORK: 

Printed for the Attthor by John P. Prall, No. 9 Spruce Street. 

1875. 



The Library 
of Congress 



WASHINGTON 



.-- y "n 






Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1875, b- 

TIMOTHY WILLISTQN, 
in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 



CONTENTS. 



TALK 1— INTRODUCTORY. 

Why be an author? — A sepulchral stone not one's best, 
remembrancer — A book, if good, is a better — Tales not the 
only aliment the young need or crave — Or that vigorous, 
thinkers are reared on — Mental labor affords pleasure — In- 
struction needs some spicing — Two themes that are funda- 
mental —Reasons for discussing them in this volume — He 
a benefactor who helps show that the foundations are im- 
movable 9-18 

TALK II— PART I.— The non-eternity of all 

THINGS SAVE ONE ; OR, Ml'ST THERE BE ONE, 
AND BUT ONE, ETERNAL BEING. 

No Bible needed to prove that there's a God — The theism 
of pagan nations — Ancient errors as to the origin of things 
— Theory of the world's eternity disproved — God and mat- 
ter not co-eternal — Something must have always existed — 
Is that something matter, or mind ? — Mind alone has had 
no beginning — An absurd philosophical theory of ancient 
times — An equally absurd scientific theory of recent date — 
No antagonism between true science and the Bible. . . 19-33 

PART II. — Does the great fabric of Nature 

AFFORD CONVINCING PROOF THAT IT HAD AN Al- 
MIGHTY AND ALL-WISE ARCHITECT ? 

A supposition — Selkirk finds an untenanted house on a 
desert island — Must not a man have built it ? — And must 



IV. CONTENTS. 

not an Infinite Mind have planned and built the world ? — 
Various displays, in Nature, of power, and of wise design 
— Brutish he who discerns no God in all these — A child's 
unanswerable question — God's eternity certain, yet incom- 
prehensible 34~5 2 

TALK III. — Have we indubitable evidence that 

THE BOOK CALLED THE BlBLE IS A COMMUNICA- 
TION from God ? 

Questions of a semi-skeptic — Reasons for first inquiring 
into the truth and divine origin of the Pentateuch — Un- 
questioned antiquity of the Jews and of the Mosaic Books 
— Jewish testimony to the truth of the Pentateuch unani- 
mous — Continued for more than 3,000 years — And confirm- 
ed by their national history and religious observances — A 
supposition showing the impossibility of their being dupes 
or deceivers — Ancient pagan writers confirm what the 
Jews testify — Corroborative proofs derived from ancient 
fables and traditions- -Internal evidence that the Pentateuch 
is true — If minutely true, then Moses was divinely com- 
missioned — wrought miracles — and in writing the Penta- 
teuch was God's amanuensis — Various proofs that the 
Bible, as a whole, is God-given and authoritative. . 53-92 

TALK IV. — The systematic study of the Bible 

A DUTY AT ONCE PROFITABLE AND PLEASURABLE J 
WITH VARIOUS SUGGESTIONS WHICH BiBLE-ClASS- 
ES AND READERS IN GENERAL WILL FIND BENE- 
FICIAL. 

System in Bible reading highly important — Four ques- 
tions asked and answered — Plan of reading by pages sug- 
gested — In reading, use the same copy — And one that has 



CONTENTS. Y. 

the Marginal Readings and References — Acquire a sym- 
metrical view of Bible truth — Helps in Bible .study — A 
word respecting Commentaries — Suggestions adapted to 
aid in Biblical interpretation — Specimens of false doctrine 
founded on erroneous expositions — Not only read, but 
'-search the Scriptures daily " — Let no other reading shut 
out the Bible — '• Will it pay ?" Abundantly, both now and 
hereafter 93 _I 3° 

TALK V. — The magnitude of little acts and 

EVENTS, AND THE AMAZING VALUE OF FRAGMENTS. 

Importance of little acts and events viewed as pivots — 
Facts cited by way of illustration — Some supposed cases — 
Fragments viewed as constituent parts of large wholes- 
Computations showing what large losses time-wasters sus- 
tain — And what well-read men the saving of an hour a day 
might make them — Money-wasting considered — A waster 
and an economist traced from the age of six to that of sixty- 
six — Huge amounts that fragments will in time produce — 
The secret of shunning poverty and being well off — Why 
wasting is criminal — The waster of littles almost sure t 
be the waster of large aggregates — What accusers misspent 
hours and wasted money will one day be ! 131-156 

TALK VI. — The lesser benefits of Bible study ; 
or, The Bible a promoter of taste, intel- 
lectual VIGOR, SOUND VIEWS, SUCCESS IN BUSI- 
NESS, AND MAN'S TEMPORAL WELL-BEING IN 
GENERAL. 

The Bible as a literary production— Not in all respects 
a model — Yet tends to promote a sound literary taste — And 
to make one intellectually strong — And a sound thinker — 
Is adapted to every variety of taste— Several particulars in 



YL CONTENTS. 

which it is suited to promote business prosperity — Labor 
encouraged, not speculation — Indorsing dissuaded from — 
Acquire justly, use prudently — Benevolent-giving the 
Lord's safety-valve, and a means of increase — The Bible a 
wise counselor in respect to friendships and intimacies — 
Has some pithy hints respecting marriage — Would, if 
heeded, promote health and longevity — Its teachings in 
respect to certain moral traits needed to insure prosperity — 
Remarks on a passage having a special application to 
females — The Bible woman's best of benefactors . . 157-194 

TALK VII. A TALE OF THE OLDEN TIME REPRO- 
DUCED AND MODERNIZED, AND THE INSTRUCTION 
IT CONVEYS GARNERED UP. 

Introduction — The city Khirassin — The pious sheik 
Rinaldo and his son Osmond — Lewellyn dispatched to 
Vindon to procure a partner for Osmond — Arrived there, 
he implores divine guidance — His predestinarian prayer — 
Meets with Imogene — Is entertained at Ariselmo's — Makes 
known his errand — His proposals for Osmond are accepted 
— Tarries over night, but wants to take Imogene and start 
for Khirassin the very next morning— Imogene consulted — 
Her naive reply — The return journey — Various particulars 
in respect to it that we would like to know — Also in respect 
to the wedding that ensued — Our curiosity not gratified by 
the story — Imogene's first interview with Osmond — Their 
union blessed of God — The story brought to a close — Seve- 
ral items of rich instruction in it — Strangeness to us of an- 
cient manners and customs — Supposed remarks of an ob- 
jector about Osmond and Imogene — What if courtships 
were now conducted in that strange way ? — Lewellyn con- 
nected prayer with business, and was blessed — That ser- 
vant a model for us — Marriages are predetermined events — 
And so are all other events — There were predestinarians. 



CONTENTS. Vll. 

long before the Bible was written — Predestinarians not 
fatalists — Imogene's artlessness and naivete — Lewellyn a 
pattern man 195-224 

TALK VIII. — Parting words of counsel to 

THE YOUNG. 

Choosing one's vocation — The bad principle that 
-governs some in doing it — The principle that should gov- 
ern all — The growing proneness to acquire by speculation 
rather than by agriculture , or manual toil — Resorting to 
the city to seek one's fortune not usually wise — Choosing 
or accepting a life-companion — Character the main thing 
— Two supposed cases illustrating the mistakes that are 
often made — The main requisites to a happy married life — 
One or two reforms suggested in respect to courtships — All 
coquetry despicable in either sex — Excite no expectations 
that you do not mean to fulfill — A word of counsel to a new- 
ly wedded pair — How grapple with life's afflictions ? Es- 
pecially with prejudice, detraction, and all kinds of ill treat- 
ment ? —No such anodyne for a wounded spirit as that that 
soothed David, when cursed by Shimei — And Job, when 
robbed by the Sabeans and Chaldeans — Man's base act 
God's righteous one — -'THOU didst it" an end to all 
murmuring — With God for our friend, all things shall 
"work together for our good," the heaviest afflictions not 
excepted — God's benison invoked 225-242 



Jalks to my Pible Class. 



TALK I. 



INTEODUCTOET 



Beloved members of my Bible Class : 

In presenting you and the public with 

these Talks, or Lectures, I feel somewhat 

as Peter felt when he penned these words ; 

" I will endeavor that ye may be able, after 

ray decease, to have these things always in 

remembrance." His words imply that he 

wished to leave behind him writings that 

would keep alive, in the minds of those whom 

he addressed, and even transmit to other 

generations, the truths which he and his 

associates had taught. He wished, in short, 

through the medium of his pen, to be doing 
2 



10 INTEODUCTORY. 

good when slumbering in the tomb ; and was 
not this a laudable ambition, a worthy mo- 
tive for becoming an author ? To " keep his 
name in remembrance" Absalom, while yet 
alive, reared up for himself a monumental 
pillar ; but a book, if it be a good one, is a 
far better remembrancer than a mausoleum 
of chiseled marble. The sepulchral stone 
does but tell the w^oiid where you slumber, 
and indicate the affection of relatives who 
survive you, but a good book may be exert- 
ing a happy influence long after you are dead. 
I am not so vain as to expect that this little 
volume will attain a marked celebrity, or be 
very extensively known and read : but if it 
shall reach and be read by many with whom 
I cannot personally commune, or shall at all 
benefit the young, or any others, though I 
may not be quite satisfied, it will perhaps be 
all that I have a right to anticipate. 

a A good book," did I just now say? 
How know I whether the book which I 
xegard as good will be so regarded by my 



INTRODUCTORY. 11 

Bible Class, or by the reading work! ? Tastes 
greatly vary, and they are a thing, says an 
old Latin maxim, that there's no disputing 
about. Were I to be guided, in the prepara- 
tion ©f a book for the young, by what seems 
to be the prevailing taste, instead of choos- 
ing grave topics and handling them argumen- 
tatiyely, X should dish up a few moral truths 
in the form of an entertaining story, a relig- 
ious novelette. But I'm unwilling to believe 
that the members of our Bible Classes, or 
that the mass of young readers have such a 
passion for tales, fictitious or true, that 
they've no relish whatever for argument and 
discussion, or for any reading that demands 
study and mental exertion. I shall take it 
for granted that books which require little 
thought, and whose chief aim is to amuse, are 
not the only ones that they care to read. If to 
youthful tastes Truth in the garb of narrative 
is the most captivating, is it wise that she 
should never be seen in her didactic attire ? v 
Shall fascinating stories constitute the chief 
aliment of all youthful minds? If we would 



12 INTRODUCTORY. 

not rear up a generation of intellectual 
pigmies, the answer should be NO. Tales 
may have an excellent moral, and be very 
entertaining and even instructive, but after 
all, they are not the nutriment on which 
vigorous thinkers are raised. It is well that 
a book should be entertaining, but if it 
fail to energize the mental powers, beget 
thought, or call for any mental labor, and if 
it does little more than entertain, it can 
hardly be pronounced profitable reading. 
And then have we not all learned that high 
enjoyment often has to be purchased with 
labor, and that the best kind of entertain- 
ment is that which usually results from vig- 
orous exertion ? It is confessed, however, 
that as meats served up without any condi- 
ments are not so keenly relished, even so 
truth, nourishing though it be in itself, be- 
comes more palatable when a little seasoning 
is intermingled. I think I may venture to 
promise the readers of these Talks that if 
there's any substantial food here, any men- 
tal nutriment, they will find it so dished up 



INTRODUCTORY. 13 

and spiced as not to prove insipid or dis- 
tasteful. 

It will be seen that the two Talks with 
which (saying this Introductory one) my 
book opens, are on themes which lie at the 
foundation of all religion and all accounta- 
bility. If there be no God, no eternal Being 
to whom all creatures owe their existence 
and support, then accountability ceases, and 
religious worship is an uncalled for and sense- 
less act. And if the Bible be not a God- 
given book, but a fabrication, then we know 
not what to believe, and are virtually wrap- 
ped in the darkness of heathenism. The 
questions, then, Is there a God ? and has He 
given the world a book? are fundamental 
ones; and inquisitive minds find pleasure and 
profit in examining them. But why examine 
afresh, you ask, questions that the Christian 
world regards as settled ? Why attempt a 
demonstration of truths that are so well es- 
tablished, and which nearly every body be- 
lieves ? For more reasons than one, I an- 
swer. In the first place many who never 
2* 



14 INTRODUCTORY. 

question the being of a God, or the divine ori- 
gin of the Bible, believe thus as the result of 
early training and tradition, rather than as 
a matter of discerned evidence and intelli- 
gent conviction. It is the prevalent belief ah 
around them, and they grow up in it and 
under it, passive and unquestioning recipi- 
ents. True, this traditionary sort of belief 
is vastly better than skepticism ; but is not 
that which is based on examined evidence 
much to be preferred? There's a twofold 
advantage in having the belief that rests on 
convincing evidence. He who has it is less 
liable to become a doubter, and he is better 
qualified to reason with doubters and win 
them over. There are not a few for whom 
the mere say-so of believers is insufficient, 
and who want convincing argument and evi- 
dence for whatever they are asked to believe. 
They are not exactly skeptics, but they're in- 
dependent thinkers, fond of an argument, and 
fond of digging down and examining founda- 
tions. And besides these, many skeptical 
opposers are found scattered over the land 



INTRODUCTORY. 15 

and throughout Christendom ; and some of 
them are specious reason^s, skilled dispu- 
tants on the side of error. Is it not desira- 
ble, for the sake of both these classes, that 
all believers should be well armed, able to 
cope with error's champions ? That they 
should know how to instruct and fortify the 
honest but wavering inquirer, how to argue 
with doubters and cavillers, and how to spike 
the guns of the sophist and the skeptic ? 
What though the pious have an in-wrought 
spiritual conviction of God's being and the 
Bible's reliableness, that's worth far more 
than that which rests solelv on aiminientative 
evidence ? This seems no good reason why 
they should not acquaint themselves with 
the reasonings which underlie their belief, 
and thus be able to " convince the gainsay ers.' 7 
The race of gainsayers is not extinct, and 
believers must not suppose that they'll never 
have occasion to defend their faith against 
skeptical assailants or sophistical reasoners. 
For such reasons, then, and believing that 
an examination of such themes will benefit 



16 INTRODUCTORY. 

and gratify Bible Classes and all young read- 
ers, I present, in*the two succeeding Talks, 
a concise demonstration of the two great 
truths, that there's a Supreme Being by 
whom all things were originated, and that 
the book called the Bible is a communication 
from Him. At a time when Error is doing 
her utmost to vanquish Truth, and to sap the 
very foundations we stand on, it is hoped 
that every countermining effort, however 
humble, will be regarded with favor. As 
young, undisciplined thinkers are peculiarly 
liable to have their traditionary belief shaken, 
or even subverted, he will doubtless be deem- 
ed a benefactor who, by means of an argu- 
mentative process, convinces them that Chris- 
tianity's foundations are immovably firm. It 
will not be expected, of course, that on topics 
w 7 hich have been so often and ably handled 
I shall be wholly original, and adduce argu- 
ments that no other writer has ever present- 
ed. I shall be no servile copyist, however ; 
no mere transcriber of others' thoughts. If 
the arguments are not wholly new, the mode 



INTRODUCTORY. 17 

of presentation and tlie language will be my 
own. In the Talk on the "being of a God — 
especially in Part First — will be found some 
ideas and reasonings which., so far as I 
know, have by no one been presented be- 
fore. Yriiether the reasonings are conclusive 
my readers will judge. In the preparation 
of the Talk on the divine origin and authority 
of the Bible, I have derived some hints from 
Home's "Introduction to the Critical Study 
and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures," and 
have given a few brief extracts from it. All 
Bible students would find this work an inval- 
uable companion, but its bulk is such that 
but few, probably, would read much of it 
were it in their hands. With respect to the 
Talks which compose the remainder of this 
volume I would say, that they're on highly 
important themes ; and I venture to believe 
that not only Bible Classes, but readers in 
general, will find them instructive, racy, and 
entertaining. From you, especially, who 
with me have searched the Book of books, I 



18 INTRODUCTORY. 

may confidently anticipate a thoughtful pe- 
rusal, and a verdict of approval. 

And now to Him "that teaeheth man 
knowledge," and that says, "Commit thy 
works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall 
be established," would I devoutly commend 
this product of my pen, as it goes forth to 
join the great ocean of thought. Though it 
be but a mere rill, so long and far as Thou 
shalt permit it to flow, let it have a refresh- 
ing influence, let it be a source of some ver- 
dure and fertility ! 



ONE, AND BUT ONE, ETERNAL BEING. 19 



TALK I I 



PAET FIRST. 



The non-eternity cf all things save ONE ; 
on, Must tkeee be one. and but one, 
Eternal Being? 

The human family stands in no absolute 
meed of a Bible to convince them that there's 
n Supreme Being. If the Bible were the 
only way of knowing that there's a God, or 
"that man has any accountability, how could 
the countless generations that have lived and 
died without this revelation be held respon- 
sible for their deeds ? But it is not the only 
way. The Bible itself teaches that the une- 
Tangelized know enough respecting a God 
and the obligations they're under to render 
them "without excuse.'' and all history and 
observation confirm this inspired testimony. 
Nations unblessed with the Bible have in all 
past periods been found to know something 



20 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

of a Supreme Being and of human accounta- 
bility. The heathen are every where found 
to have thoughts that either " accuse or ex- 
cuse," some conscience, some idea of a here- 
after, some dread of punishment for crimes 
committed here. Now this universal belief 
in a deity of some sort — if there be any ex- 
ceptions, they are surely very few — is itself 
one proof, among many, that there is such a 
Being as the Bible denominates God. If 
there is no such Being, how account for 
the fact that throughout the pagan world 
men have, with great uniformity, believed in 
some kind of a God ? A consent so general, 
so entirely unforced, and subsisting between 
nations that in place and period were widely 
separated, certainly goes far to prove that 
the belief in a Divine Being is no illusion of 
man's brain. Heathen nations have, it is 
true, believed in more gods than one, and to 
their chief deity or deities they have ascribed 
a character quite unlike, in many respects, to 
that which belongs to the true God. The 
Jupiter, for instance, of classic antiquity 



ONE, AND BUT ONE, ETERNAL BEING. 21 

bears but a faint resemblance to the Holy 
One of the Bible. It's not difficult, however, 
to account for these distortions of the truth, 
nor do they invalidate the reasoning which 
makes the general belief of mankind in a God 
one proof that there is a God. Nor, so far 
as this proof is concerned, does it matter how 
the uninstructed heathen have come by the 
idea of a God ; whether by tradition derived 
from the founders of our race, or by a divine 
implantation in all human bosoms. 

Whence came I ? And whence came the 
world that I occupy ? are questions that even 
a thoughtful heathen would be apt to ask 
himself, when musing on life's many myste- 
ries, and on the origin of things. On this 
problem — the origin of things — the philoso- 
phers of pagan antiquity bestowed much 
thought ; but, having no Bible to guide them, 
some of their conclusions were very unsound, 
While they all, or nearly all, professed to 
believe in an eternal Spirit, some of them 
held that this our world was also eternal — 

that the earth and heavens were without be- 
3 



22 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

ginning, and that there has been an eternal 
succession of such things as now exist. Ab- 
surd as this doctrine of the world's eternity 
may now seem, there may here and there be 
found, even now, a believer in it ; and it may 
be worth our while to see whether, without 
the Bible's aid, its fallacy can not be made 
to appear. Several distinct proofs of its fal- 
lacy might be adduced, but we will notice 
only one. Suppose, for illustration's sake, 
that there lies before us a chain, the hither 
end of which we distinctly see, and that to 
this hither end we see that new links are 
being continually added. Would not this 
constant addition of links satisfy us that 
there was a time when the chain had but one 
link ? That, however far off the further end 
be, the chain has a further end, a begin- 
ning? The fact that the further end is out 
of sight, or that we were not by when the 
first link was forged, would not prevent our 
believing that it had a first link, and that the 
entire chain was the work of an intelligent 
artificer. My readers will know how to apply 



ONE, AND BUT ONE, ETERNAL BEING. 23 

this argument. The last-born plants and 
animals and persons are the hither and seen 
end of the chain, and to this new links are 
all the while being annexed. The beginning 
of this series of links we cannot see, but we 
may be quite sure there was a beginning ; 
sure that there was a first plant and animal 
of each species, and a first human pair. 

The argument for a Being that's had no 
beginning will be clearer, perhaps, if we sup- 
pose our chain to be a pendent one, fastened 
to the over-hanging vault of heaven, and 
reaching nearly to the earth. We see at a 
glance that each link of this pendent chain 
is supported, proximately, by the link next 
above it, but primarily by the vault to which 
the chain is attached. We see that the chain 
must have an uppermost link, and that that 
and all the others are upheld by some- 
thing that's immovable, and that is no part 
of the chain. The successive generations of 
creatures are the pendent chain, and the im- 
movable something that upholds it is none 
other than the Eternal One, the uncaused 



24 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

Cause. If, then, we had never been told 
that " in the beginning God created the heav- 
ens and the earth," it would still be absolute- 
ly certain that they and all existing things 
had a beginning. Can that be without a 
beginning that's composed of parts each one 
of which has a beginning ? Not unless there 
can be a chain, made up of numerous links, 
with new ones being added, and yet the 
chain have no first link. That the world as 
we now see it has existed forever, is mani- 
festly untrue, even if so profound a thinker 
as Aristotle believed it. 

A belief far more prevalent, anciently, than 
the foregoing was this : That the Deity and 
matter were co-eternal. Some maintained 
that Chance was the fashioning agent, while 
others — among; whom was Plato — believed 
that God gave form and arrangement to the 
pre-existing but chaotic mass. That He 
created all things out of nothing was an idea 
which many of the wisest of the ancients 
seem never to have entertained. And, 
strange to say, a few even of our modern 



ONE, AND BUT ONE, ETERNAL BEING. 25 

-scholars have thought that, possibly, matter 
is as old as God is — that it may have always 
existed. Believing this doctrine of the pos- 
sible eternity of matter to be mischievous as 
well as false, let us see whether its fallacy 
can not be made apparent. 

Weigh well the following propositions, and 
see if they be not incontrovertible. The pow- 
er to exist uncaused, or ivithout beginning, is the 
very highest that can be conceived of ; and 
ivliatever has eternally existed must of necessity 
be all-poicerfnl and absolutely independent. No 
higher independence, no mightier power can 
be possessed, or even imagined, than that 
w T hich must belong to any thing, be it mind or 
matter, that owes its existence to itself only. 
To say that a thing has always existed is to 
say that it borrowed no leave to. exist, or de- 
rived not its being from some preceding 
thing ; and this is equivalent to saying that 
it is totally independent — yea, that it is om- 
nipotent. Moreover, an independent thing 
can never become a dependent one. What 

3* 



26 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

is independent for a single instant will of 
necessity be independent for eternity. 

Let us now apply these truths to the ques- 
tion, Has matter existed from eternity ? If 
it has, and if the foregoing propositions are 
undeniably true, then it follows that matter 
did not derive its being from God, or aught 
else, but was self-existent. And as it existed 
without leave, it will forever keep on existing 
so. It must and will be totally independent 
forever. No power, human or divine, can 
ever divest it of its original independence 
and omnipotence. In brief, matter and God 
being co-eternal, there are two self -existent, 
independent, all-powerful beings ; and mat- 
ter is as really entitled to be styled a deity 
as Jehovah himself. Tou may, if you 
choose, regard matter as a silent partner in 
the government of the universe, but he — it 
is too feeble a word for an uncaused being — 
is as independent and powerful as Jehovah ; 
and should these two deities chance to fall 
out, what woeful consequences might ensue ! 

I trust the absurdity of the idea that mat- 



ONE, AND BUT ONE, ETERNAL BEING. 27 

ter may have always existed is sufficiently 
obvious. If it were eternal, it could never 
be that passive, yielding, dependent thing 
which it obviously is. Believing in the eter- 
nity of matter as Plato did, it is not strange 
that he also believed matter to have an in- 
herent untractableness, which to some ex- 
tent resists the will of God, and prevents 
Him from executing His designs perfect!}'. 
The only wonder is that Plato did not fol- 
low out the doctrine of matter's eternity to 
its legitimate conclusion, and represent mat- 
ter as so refractory, that God could execute 
none of His designs without matter's con- 
sent and co-operation! In the syllogistic 
form the foregoing argument would stand 
thus : Whatever exists without beginning, or 
leave, is of necessity independent and all- 
powerful ; matter is neither independent nor 
all powerful ; therefore matter has not ex- 
isted without beginning, or leave. And the 
irresistible conclusion is, that not only has 
matter had a beginning, but so have all de- 
pendent things. 



28 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

But must there not be something that 
lias had no beginning? If there be not 
something that has forever existed, it is ob- 
vious that nothing could be existing now. 
Imagine a period, far back in the past, when 
there was absolutely nothing in existence, 
and explain, if you can, how any thing ever 
came to exist. Could nothing ever give birth 
to something ? The very supposition is ab- 
surd. If, then, there must of necessity be 
something that's eternal; what is it ? We have 
seen that there can not have been an eternal 
succession of plants, animals, and men, and 
that matter itself must have had a beginning. 
But, besides matter, what other existing 
thing is there, what has there ever been, 
save mind ? Can not all existing things be 
comprehended under these two — matter and 
mind? Mind, then, must be and is that 
something that's had no beginning. Mind 
is the only thing that has existed from eter- 
nity. But a mind that is eternal must ne- 
cessarily be an all-powerful and independent 
mind. It can be nothing less than infinite. 



ONE, AND BUT ONE, ETERNAL BEING. 29 

In its natural attributes, at least, it can be 
no other tlian the eternal I Am, the very God 
of the Bible. Were the Bible annihilated, 
then, it would still be indisputably certain 
that there is a God, a " high and lofty One 
that inhabiteth eternity," an almighty Being 
who hath " made the world and all things 
that are therein." 

Before bringing this Part of Talk Second 
to a close, let us, for the sake of seeing what 
absurdities are sometimes propounded in the 
name of philosophy and science, bestow a 
passing thought on two theories respecting 
the world's formation, the one ancient, the 
other a pretender of recent origin. The 
theory of atoms — anciently advocated by the 
philosophers Leucippus, Democritus, and 
Epicurus — was substantially as follows : 
The indivisible atoms of which all existing 
things are composed, not excepting man's 
■soul and the gods themselves, have forever 
existed, and both in number and variety are 
infinite. There was a time when these eter- 
nal atoms, instead of being combined in va- 



30 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

rious bodies and beings, were isolated, and 
were moving about at random in the voids 
of space. As the atoms were numberless, 
and moving in all possible directions, they 
were constantly hitting each other ; and 
these collisions, in which the atoms stuck 
together, resulted in a vast variety of com- 
binations. Age after age new collisions and 
new combinations were taking place, till at 
last the icorld as it now is got fashioned,, 
through the accidental concourse of the count- 
less and eternal atoms! 

Do you wonder how such a theory could 
be seriously advanced by men who were 
styled philosophers? And do you query 
whether any thing half so absurd could possi- 
bly be put forth by the learned men of mod- 
ern times ? Then let me quote for you, from 
a scientist who now professes adhesion to it, 
a brief description of what is styled the 
theory of natural evolution. These are the 
scientist's own words : "What are the core 
and essence of this hypothesis? Strip it 
naked and j ou stand face to face with the 



ONE, AND BUT ONE, ETEBNAL BEING. 31 

notion, that not alone tlie more ignoble forms 
of animalcular or animal life, not alone the 
nobler forms of the horse and lion, not alone 
the wonderful and exquisite mechanism of 
the human body, but that tlie human mind it- 
self — emotion, intellect, will, and all their phe- 
nomena — were once latent in a fiery cloud." 
Such is this savant's account of the Darwin- 
ian or Natural Evolution theory, and he ex- 
presses his adhesion to it in these words : 
" I discern in matter the promise and potency 
of every form and quality of life." (The ital- 
ics in the above quotations are mine.) Para- 
phrased, the theory runs thus : " A fiery 
cloud" was the origin, the potential germ of 
this our globe and all that it contains, if not 
of all other worlds. Out of this nebulous 
germ, by a "principle of natural selection," 
were gradually evolved all things organized 
and unorganized, animate and inanimate, 
the " exquisite mechanism of the human 
body," and even "the human mind itself," 
with all its attributes and " all their phenom- 
ena !" The seeds of all these things once 



32 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

lay hid in "a fiery cloud!" "In matter" is 
found " the promise " not only, but "potency of 
every form and quality of life !" How this 
fiery cloud or this potential matter got into 
being, we are not told, nor is it deemed im- 
portant that we should know. It is enough 
for us to know that it is the primum mobile, 
the originator of the existing system of 
things ! We see now, plainly enough, that 
in supposing matter unable to think — as we 
heretofore have — we have been grossly mis- 
taken. For if thought be not an attribute of 
matter, pray how could " emotion, intellect, 
will, with all their phenomena," have once 
been "latent in a fiery cloud?," What mat- 
ter did not originally possess it surely could 
not impart, or transmit, even if aided by the 
principle of natural selection, or if allowed 
countless cycles of ages to do it in. Be it 
remembered, then, that matter thinks ! 
Thought is one of its inherent and original 
attributes. In view of the illumination 
afforded by the Evolution theory, ought not 
our race to magnify and revere that uncaused 



ONE, AOT) BUT ONE, ETERNAL BEING. 33 

and cogitative thing, termed matter, that's 
the parent of us all ! — Alas that Science, the 
world's benefactor and the handmaid of 
religion, should in the eyes of some become 
a laughing stock by reason of the ridiculous 
counterfeits that are sometimes put forth in 
her name. "When Paul warned Timothy 
against "the oppositions of science falsely so 
cztted" one would think he was endowed with 
a prophetic spirit, and that he had his eye 
on just such absurdities as those we have 
been contemplating. It is gratifying to know 
that between the teachings of the Bible 
and the discoveries and deductions of true 
science, there is — there can be, no antago- 
nism whatever ; and that the Lord will hold 
in derision all the thrusts aimed at His Book, 
even though they wear the semblance c£ 
scientific verity. 



TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 



PAET SECOND. 



Does the great fabric of Nature afford con- 
vincing PROOF THAT IT HAD AN ALMIGHTY AND 

all- wise Architect ? 

By a logical, though abstract process of 
reasoning we have already seen that there 
must be an Eternal Mincl, a Being to whom 
all things ov^e their existence and support. 
But it will do us good to reach the same 
conclusion by a process that's less abstract, 
and better adapted to interest the mass of 
readers. Since we form an opinion of a 
workman and his powers by an inspection of 
his work, let us examine portions of the 
vast fabric of creation, and see whether it 
has not such marks of power, forethought, 
skill and wisdom, as make it certain that it 
had an omnipotent and infinitely intelligent 
Builder. 

We will suppose, by way of introduction, 



DOES NATURE SAY THEEE IS A GOD? 35 

that Alexander Selkirk, when wrecked on the 
island of Juan Fernandez, where beasts, 
birds and reptiles were the sole tenants, in 
rambling over the island found an empty 
house. In trying to account for its being- 
there would he have said, "As this house 
has no tenant, and the island no human 
occupant but myself, some of the more intel- 
ligent of these brutes must have constructed 
this dwelling." So far from reasoning thus, 
would he not have felt sure that some man or 
men had once been there, and had planned 
and erected the house ? But why thus sure ? 
Because he would know that the foresight, 
and skill, and adaptation of means to ends 
displayed in this structure, v>~ere such as 
none of the brutes ever exhibit, or are capa- 
ble of. Somewhat thus would he have solilo- 
quized : " These windows for the admission 
of light, these doors for ingress and egress,, 
this apparatus for warming the house, carry- 
ing off smoke, and preparing meals, these 
sleeping apartments, this cellar for storing 
vegetables, and this well of water at the door, 



36 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

all prove that this dwelling was constructed 
by an intelligent human architect, and not 
by an irrational brute." 

Now if the skill and forethought evinced 
in the structure of a house prove that the 
house had a human contriver, what shall we 
say of this vast edifice, the Earth, with all 
its rich garniture and magnificent surround- 
ings ? Does this stupendous fabric bear the 
impress of a Builder whose power is unlimit- 
ed, a Contriver w T hose wisdom and skill are 
infinite? Let us examine the great volume 
of Nature and see. 

We will begin with the attribute of power. 
Come now with me, and let us take our 
stand outside of yonder doomed city, just 
as it is being rocked to and fro by an earth- 
quake, or overwhelmed by a fiery torrent 
from yonder volcano. Or at a safe distance 
let us watch this awful tornado as it sweeps 
terrifically onward, uprooting and hurling 
aloft gigantic trees, and rendering whole vil- 
lages a mass of crumbling ruins. Or go with 
me to old Ocean's side when it is lashed into 



DOES NATURE SAY THERE IS A GOD? 37 

fury by a tempest, when the stoutest hearts 
quake, and whole navies are engulfed. 
Say, atheist, see you no God, no Almighty 
Being in scenes like these ? And when hea- 
ven's artillery is unmuzzled, when lightnings 
flash, and thunders roar, and the tempest bel- 
lows, is it to you simply a war of the ele- 
ments ? Is it no more than one of Nature's 
convulsive throes ? To you, my youthful 
friends, I trust that it is "the God of -glory 
that thundereth," and that with reverential 
awe you exclaim, " The Lord on high is migh- 
tier than * * * the mighty waves of the 
sea." " With God is terrible majesty." " The 
thunder of His power who can understand ?" 
But I have a still more impressive exhibi- 
tion of divine power for you to contemplate. 
It can be proved that this our globe weighs a 
little more than 5649 trillions of tons. And 
yet this immensely heavy body is whirled 
around the sun, with us on it, at the rate of 
nearly nineteen miles every second ! What 
power short of Omnipotence could uphold so 

immenselv heavy a bodv, could impel it with 

* 4* 



38 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

such, immense velocity, and that, too, without 
the slightest noise ? Just think of it ! Here 
is a car, weighing 5649 millions of millions 
of millions of tons, and having on board 
some twelve or thirteen hundred millions of 
passengers, that is whirled along the sidereal 
railway about 68,000 miles every hour, and 
yet so noiselessly, so imperceptibly, that 
were it not for the revelations of science, 
not one of us would know that he had 
budged an inch ! Outside of our track there 
is a car 1281 times larger than ours, and 
even that is propelled at an average rate of 
over eight miles during a single swing of the 
pendulum. What a display of power have 
we here ! Has any but an Infinite Being 
such power as this ? A boy who, after toss- 
ing several marbles into the air, could for a 
moment or two keep them from falling or 
from hitting each other, would be deemed a 
prodigy, deemed almost superhuman. "What 
then shall we think of Him who, by a crea- 
tive fiat, ushered a vast number of huge 
globes into being, and then flung them abroad 



DOES NATURE SAY THERE IS A GOD? 39 

throughout the depths of space, not to have 
a fortuitous or independent career, but to 
move noiselessly on, century after century 
and age after age, in the paths their Maker 
had ordained ! Though some of these pon- 
derous bodies move with a terrific velocity, 
they each know and keep their own ap- 
pointed track, and there is never any jar, or 
any collision. With such ease, through laws 
of His own creating, does He who flung 
them abroad control their movements, that 
with no irreverence they might be styled the 
playthings of the Almighty ! 

Our next inquiry is, whether forethought 
and wise design are as conspicuously display- 
ed in the great fabric we tenant, as is the 
attribute of power. On so fertile a theme 
as this volumes might be written, but a few 
of the more obvious examples shall suffice. 
I propose to derive my illustrations, not 
from things recondite and little known, but 
from facts which are open to the observa- 
tion of all. 

In the very shape of the Earth and other 



40 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

planets, we have one proof of the wise de- 
sign we are in search, of. For a solid that 
was to be inhabited, that was to have a two- 
fold revolution in space, and whose surface 
was to consist of sea and land, what an awk- 
ward and inconvenient shape would the cube 
have been, or the parallelopiped, or any of 
the geometrical solids but the sphere, or 
spheroid. To have the earth turn on itself 
and move round the sun with the least pos- 
sible friction, what other form would have 
answered but that which it has ? In ocean 
navigation what awkward angles and projec- 
tions would have to be encountered, were 
our planet a prism, or a cube, or anything 
but a globe. 

Had not the world's Builder been emi- 
nently provident and wise, He might not 
have had the Earth revolve on its axis, or 
that axis lean twenty -three-and-a-half degrees 
toward the plane of the ecliptic, or the 
■ atmosphere share in the Earth's diurnal rota- 
tion ; and the omission of any one of these 
three things would have been a capital over- 



DOES NATURE SAY THERE IS A GOD ? 41 

sight, and very disastrous. If, in moving 
round the sun, the Earth did not turn at all 
on itself, the dwellers on any one meridian 
would have, alternately, a day and a night of 
six months each ; and this would evidently re- 
sult in much inconvenience and harm. Who 
would willingly exchange our present alterna- 
tion of days and nights for one in which his 
day should last half a year, and his night 
another half? How parched and almost 
untenable would a place become, on which 
for half a year the sun should shine contin- 
uously ; and how cold, cheerless and sterile 
would be that same place during a six 
months' absence of the sun. One inconve- 
nience of having six months of continuous 
sunshine would be, that the occupants of 
any one place would have no uniformity as 
to their sleeping hours. The blacksmith 
and the cooper, for instance, might be wake- 
ful and disposed to work, at the very time 
when their neighbors the merchant and the 
minister needed repose ; and the sleep of 
the latter might in that case be disturbed by 



42 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

the clink of the smith's hammer, or the rub- 
a-dub of the cooper on his barrels. How for- 
tunate are we that Chance was not the world's 
builder ; that as things are now arranged, the 
earth and the air are every twenty four hours 
alternately illumined and darkened, warmed 
and cooled ; that thus often man is roused 
to exertion and invited to seek repose ; and 
that by the sun's withdrawal the dwellers 
on any one meridian are disposed to woo 
sleep at about the same hour. Important 
consequences, we see, were hinged on the 
question whether the Earth should rotate,. 
as well as go round the sun ; as also on the 
question how often it should turn on itself. 
A much slower rotation than what it has 
would have been attended with many dis- 
comforts, while a far more rapid one would 
have been dangerous. It is susceptible of 
proof that were the Earth made to turn on 
itself once in 83 or 84 minutes, all loose 
things on its surface would be thrown off, as 
water is from a swiftly revolving grindstone,, 
and the very globe itself would be in danger 



DOES NATURE SAY THERE IS A GOD? 43 

of crumbling to pieces. An unintelligent 
contriver might have given us a rotation that 
was too swift, or too slow, or no rotation at 
all ; and in either case suffering and disaster 
would have resulted. 

Again : "Would any of us willingly ex- 
change that charming variety of seasons 
which we now have, or that variation there 
is in the length of our days and nights, for 
an arrangement in which there should be 
but one season, with equal days and nights 
all the year round ? If we would not, then 
let us admire that forethought which led the 
world's Architect to make the Earth's axis 
lean towards the plane of its orbit, instead 
of having it perpendicular to that plane. 
Had it not leaned at all, twelve hours would 
have been the unvarying measure of all our 
days and nights, and the terms Spring, Sum- 
mer, Autumn and Winter would have been 
unneeded and unknown. A blunderer might 
not have had it lean at all, or might not have 
fixed upon the best angle of inclination; 
but the divine Builder knew that, for the 



4A TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

general good, 23^ degrees was the best. — 
So if, in the formation of things, Chance, or 
an ignoramus had been at the helm, the 
atmosphere might have been made to stand 
still, while the Earth which it enveloped was 
made to rotate. "Well, what if such had 
been the order of things ? Why, the people 
of Portsmouth, N. H., or of any place lying 43 
degrees North or South of the equator, would 
without intermission have to face a tornado 
whose velocity was 765 miles an hour ; while 
those dwelling on or near the equator — say 
the inhabitants of Quito, for instance — 
would have that tornado's speed increased 
to 1039 miles an hour ! For it is quite obvi- 
ous that if the air did not turn with the 
Earth, the rotation of the latter would whirl 
us against the air with a velocity proportion- 
ed to our respective distances from the 
equator. We see, then, that if the Earth 
and its airy wrapper did not rotate together,, 
no man, or tree, or edifice could for a mo- 
ment stand before the awful wind storm that 
would rage without cessation. 



DOES NATURE SAY THERE IS A GOD ? 45 

Do not such facts as the foregoing indi- 
cate profound knowledge and wise design ? 
And have we not proof of the same thing 
in the necessity that man is under of tasking 
his powers, mental and physical, and of sup- 
porting himself by some kind of toil ? It is 
obvious that He who, with a breath, could 
create such a world as this, and create a hu- 
man tenant to occupy it, could have supplied 
all the necessities of that tenant without 
obliging him to rely on his own energies at 
all. He could, without their co-operation, 
have provided men with food, and apparel, 
and habitations ; with everything, in short, 
that necessity or convenience might demand. 
But what would man have been good for, had 
he been exempted from all necessity for toil, 
and invention, and self-reliance ? As things 
are, he has to find things out by study and 
reflection, his inventive powers are tasked, 
his mental energies are called into frequent 
and vigorous action ; and thus it is that the 
man is gradually developed, and that he be- 



46 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

comes a self-made giant, instead of forever 
remaining a dwarf. 

Man, however, would have been compara- 
tively weak-handed and helpless, had there 
been no such animals to aid him as the 
horse, the ox, the ass, the mule, the camel, 
and the reindeer. What an evident antici- 
pation there was of man's necessities in his 
being provided with such beasts to aid him 
in subduing the earth. Observe, too, what 
a well-adjusted proportion there is between 
man's stature and that of the various beasts 
that were to toil in his service. Had the 
great Artificer lacked wisdom and fore- 
thought, the horse might have been made 
so tall as to forbid one's vaulting upon his 
back, with no fulcrum but the ground ; or 
the cow so constructed as to render her 
udder and milk inaccessible except by means 
of stairs, or an elevated platform. 

In the structure of the cameVsfoot, and of 
the creature's interior, we have a fine speci- 
men of adaptation and wise design. That 
unique foot was manifestly formed with 



DOES NATURE SAY THERE IS A GOD? 47 

special reference to the deserts of hot sand 
which the camel would have to traverse. 
And since this beast was to so often cross 
immense wastes where there was no water, 
how marvellous it is that it should have in- 
ternal cisterns, or cells, where it could, be- 
fore starting, store away a 25 or 30 days' 
supply of water ; — cisterns from which it 
could transfer water to the stomach, and 
slake its thirst whenever necessity required ! 
Who so blind as not to see, that in making 
the camel, the Maker was anticipating the 
wants of those nomadic tribes who were 
destined to roam the deserts and sandy 
wastes of Earth? And what a proof does 
this one beast afford, that its Creator pos- 
sesses boundless intelligence. 

But let us look a little further. Man is so 
constituted that he craves and delights in va- 
riety ; and how amply is this inborn love of 
variety provided for. It is consulted in the 
numberless edibles that are provided for man's 
sustenance ; in the several sorts of material 
for apparel, and in the numerous and dissim- 



48 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

ilar fabrics made from them ; in the greatly 
diversified natural scenery presented to man's 
eye ; and in the various kinds of employment 
that there are for him to pursue. If it be 
true that "Variety is the spice of life, which 
gives it all its flavor," it surely can not be 
for the want of it that life becomes to any a 
stale, insipid thing. — And has not man s love 
of the beautiful and the sublime been consulted 
by the world's Contriver, no less than his 
love of variety? "What, then, mean these 
velvet walks and lawns, these fields of wav- 
ing grass and grain, these loaded and fra- 
grant orchards, these charming groves and 
solemn forests, these fountains, and bab- 
bling brooks, and noble rivers, these cas- 
cades and cataracts, these fat valleys and 
grand old mountains, this heaving ocean, 
dotted here and there with sails, and this 
overhanging vault studded all over, at night, 
with glittering worlds ? O man, art thou so 
brutish as not to discern, in all this lavish 
display of the grand and the lovely, the in- 
exhaustibleness and glory of Him who con- 



DOES NATURE SAY THERE IS A GOD? 49 

structed this abode of thine? Marred 
though it be by sin, is not this home of thine 
a charming one ? A spot that God has been 
at pains to adorn and make attractive ? 
Where is he whose sense of the beautiful 
has not a thousand times been regaled with 
Nature's landscapes, and Nature's unwrit- 
ten music ? Where the man whose soul has 
not swelled with sublime emotions, as he 
has climbed some towering summit and 
gazed around ? Who is he that has not been 
filled with solemn awe, as from some emi- 
nence he has looked out upon the ocean, 
stretching interminably away, emblem at 
once of life's instability and of man's eter- 
nity ? How obvious is it, that as man loves 
to unite the beautiful with the useful in what 
he constructs, so does and so has the Framer 
of all things, in the fabric that He has rear- 
ed. And how overwhelming is the proof 
that it was not only a Mind that originated 
the universe, but that that Mind possessed 
all the attributes of mind in infinite meas- 
ure. Well might an ancient poet exclaim, "O 



50 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

Lord, how manifold are thy works ! In wis- 
dom hast Thou made them all. The earth 
is full of Thy riches." We wonder not that 
another should exclaim, " O the depth of the 
riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of 
God!" 

Thus have we, by two dissimilar methods, 
and unaided by the Bible, reached the 
conclusion that from eternity there has ex- 
isted a personal Intelligence, boundless in 
power and knowledge, and that to this un- 
caused Being all things else owe their exis- 
tence. To account for a universe of depend- 
ent mind and matter, we see that there 
must of necessity be one independent Being, 
a Being that has had no beginning. But 
how, you ask, could any thing, how could 
even a Mind exist without ever beginning to 
exist ? Ah, reader, a mightier problem than 
that has never been propounded to finite 
minds ! When in his simplicity a child has 
asked, "Pa, why did not God have to be 
made, as much as we and the world had to ?" 
he has unconsciously put a question which 



DOES NATUEE SAY THERE IS A GOD? 51 

it is doubtful whether even Gabriel himself 
can solve. That there is a Being who " did 
not have to be made" we are absolutely cer- 
tain, even without the Bible to tell us so. The 
fact we are forced to accept as true ; but how 
even God could exist without beginning, or 
previous cause, is to us mortals an unfath- 
omable mystery. That something has for- 
ever existed, and that it is mind, and not 
matter, that has had no beginning, is a prop- 
osition which we know to be infallibly true ; 
and yet how it can be so we are unable to 
comprehend. Be it impressed on every 
mind, then, that a thing may be unmistakably 
true, and worthy of being acted on as such, 
even when it is a truth that we are too fee- 
ble to fathom or explain. And since the 
first great truth in religion — the being of an 
eternal God — is a mystery, let us learn not 
to marvel or disbelieve, if the Scriptures 
should be found to contain some things that 
are mysterious, or " hard to be understood.'' 
If we are to reject, as untrue, every Bible 
fact or doctrine which to us may seem in- 



52 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

comprehensible, why not begin at the foun- 
dation, and deny that there is any God — 
deny that there is or can be a Being that 
has existed from eternity ? Let the infatu- 
ated skeptic do this, if he will, but of you, 
my readers, I hope and expect better things. 
Far from stumbling at the incomprehensi- 
bleness of God's eternity, let that very in- 
comprehensibleness inspire in you a deeper 
solemnity, a profounder reverence and awe, 
as you muse on Him of whom it is said, 
" Before the mountains were brought forth, 
or ever Thou hadst formed the earth and the 
world, eyen from everlasting to everlasting 
Thou art God." Whether we search the 
volumes of Nature and Providence, or the 
priceless "oracles of God," profound humil- 
ity becomes us, and at every step these 
questions should accompany us : " Canst 
thou by searching find out God? Canst 
thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?" 
"Great things doeth He, which we cannot 
comprehend." 



QUESTIONS OF A DOUBTER. 53 



TALK III. 



Have we indubitable evidence that the book 
called the blble is a communication from 
God? 

When it is once settled in an inquirer's 
mind that there is a God to whom he owes 
his being and ail that he possesses, such 
questions as these wall naturally present 
themselves : " What is the character of this 
Eternal Being ? Is He a Moral Governor, 
a Being who scrutinizes motives and actions, 
and who will eventually call men to an ac- 
count ? Am I and the race I belong to 
to have an endless hereafter? If I am, 
what sort of a world is that which I am to 
tenant after quitting this, and what is to be 
my condition there ? Will the character I 
sustain while here do any thing toward shap- 
ing my destiny there? If it be true — as 
something seems to whisper — that I shall 



54 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

one day be summoned to answer for all m y 
doings, is there any way in which I can be 
pardoned for wrong doing ? Here is a book 
which professes to be a communication from 
God, a book of instruction on the very 
themes and points respecting which I need 
information. The people called Christians 
believe it to be a genuine message from 
Heaven, an infallible guide ; and in its 
teachings they repose implicit confidence. 
But in believing thus may they not be de- 
ceived ? Can one know with entire certain- 
ty that the Bible is not an artful fabrica- 
tion?" Now we must neither scold nor 
scorn this semi-skeptic for the incredulity his 
questions seem to evince, nor brand him with 
the appellative infidel, because he asks for 
evidence that the Scriptures are indeed "the 
oracles of God." Many momentous truths 
does God call on men to believe, but belief 
without evidence He never demands. 
"Prove all things," is one of his own injunc- 
tions. The Bible challenges investigation. 
It is not afraid to be on trial, but it courts, 



THE PENTATEUCH A TRUE HISTORY. 55 

the very closest scrutiny. Since, then, there 
are those that question its credibility, and that 
.are clamorous for proofs, let us first inquire, 

Are the first five Books of the Bible relia- 
ble AS A RECORD OF FACTS ? x\.RE THE SO-CALL- 
ED Books of Moses a true history? 

There are several reasons why it is prop- 
er to examine the reliableness of these 
.Books, apart from the rest of the Bible. 
One is, that special attacks have been made 
on them by skeptical opposers. Another is, 
that the Mosaic Books are the foundation 
which underlies the rest of the Old Testa- 
ment, and even the New ; and if the truth 
and divine origin of the Pentateuch is made 
certain, it becomes very easy to accept, as 
true and divine, the remainder of the Bible. 
There is a thread connecting Moses with 
-Jesus, and the Mosaic Books with all the 
subsequent ones ; and throughout these sub- 
sequent Books there are frequent allusions 
to Moses and his Books, or quotations from 
them e Moreover, parts of the Pentateuch 



56 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

admit of one very peculiar and entertaining 
kind of evidence, such as the remaining por- 
tions of Scripture would almost wholly ex- 
clude. For all which reasons let us see 
whether there is convincing proof that in 
ancient times a man named Moses was, as 
the Pentateuch affirms, commissioned of God 
to be the deliverer, leader and lawgiver of 
his countrymen the Israelites, (now known 
as Jews,) and whether the Books that bear 
his name are a true history. 

That the Jews, though now a dispersed, 
are a very ancient people, and that the vari- 
ous Books of the Old Testament have long 
been in their possession, and have by them 
been held sacred, are historical facts that 
need no proof, being undisputed even by in- 
fidels. It is universally confessed, too, that 
the Jews have with one voice ascribed the 
first five Books of the Bible to Moses, and 
have ever believed that God constituted him 
their leader, and the founder of their laws. 
Now if these Mosaic Books be not a God- 
given record of facts, how account for it that 



THE PENTATEUCH A TRUE HISTORY. 57 

for more than 3000 years they have been 
held and venerated as such by the whole 
Jewish nation ? The eighth Article of the 
Jewish Confession of Faith reads thus : " I 
believe with a perfect faith, that the whole 
law of commandments which we now have 
in our hands, was given to Moses, our mas- 
ter, on whom be peace." Given to Moses? 
By whom ? They believed, we see, that God 
gave Moses this law, and commissioned him 
to be their teacher and governor. If Moses 
be a fabulous personage, or if the Pentateuch 
be a fabrication, how marvellous it is that 
for some 3300 years the Jews have cherish- 
ed an almost idolatrous veneration for the 
man Moses, a3 one divinely commissioned 
to rescue them from bondage, and to draw 
up for their observance the civil and reli- 
gious code that is found in the last four 
books of the Pentateuch ! In ascribing 
these Books to Moses as God's mouth-piece, 
and in maintaining to this day the seventh- 
day Sabbath and synagogue worship, the 

Passover and other Jewish rites, and the= 
6 



£8 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

public reading of the Mosaic and other Old 
Testament Books, have the Jews for so ma- 
ny centuries been using deception, or been 
themselves deceived ? Then if the people of 
these States should ultimately be dispersed 
over the earth as the Jews now are, and 
should remain a dispersed people as long as 
the Jews have, the skeptics of that remote 
iuture might with propriety reason thus : 
tC( Though these scattered wanderers affirm 
that they once, as colonists, occupied a part 
of what is now known as the United States of 
America, and that there, under the leadership 
of one George Washington, they threw off the 
colonial yoke and achieved their indepen- 
dence, and though for many centuries they 
have been known to observe a certain day 
in July as their country's birthday, and on 
that day to publicly read a document styled 
the Declaration of Independence, we never- 
theless regard the whole story as fabulous ! 
True, there are books purporting to be a 
history of the United States, and giving a 
detailed account of the American Revolu- 



THE PENTATEUCH A TRUE HISTORY. 59* 

tion, of Washington and Jefferson, the Dec- 
laration of Independence, and other matters 
of the kind ; but though they are treasured 
up and read with pride by these dispersed 
exiles, and carefully transmitted from gene- 
ration to generation, we honestly question 
whether any such events as these books and 
these exiles speak of ever took place. These 
Americans (as they style themselves) have 
for centuries either been the dupes of some 
expert literary forger, or else from motives 
of self-interest and national vanity they are 
endeavoring to make dupes of us !" Do my 
readers pronounce the supposition I have 
made a thing that could never occur ? Then 
be assured that no such history as that 
which the Mosaic Books present, could be 
palmed upon the world, or believed by a 
single nation, unless it was indisputably 
true. If it be questionable, to day, whether 
any such man as Moses ever lived, and wrote 
the Pentateuch, or whether the things there 
recorded are true, then it may be questiona- 
ble, many centuries heme, whether such an 



60 TALES TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

event as the American Revolution ever oc- 
curred, and whether the various histories of 
that event, and the various books styled 
'" Life of George Washington," are not sheer 
forgeries ! 

It being undisputed that Jeivisli testimony 
to the truth of the Mosaic Books is unani- 
mous, uninterrupted, and confirmed by their 
national history and their religious obser- 
vances, let us next inquire, Have any ancient 
pagan writers spoken of Moses, or wsiuc-n 
any thing suited to strengthen our conviction 
of the reliableness of the Pentateuch as a 
history? Eusebius — father of ecclesiastical 
history, and author of several works in the 
first half of the fourth century — in his " Pre- 
paratio Evangelica," (parts of which are yet 
extant,) gives extracts from writers that had 
long preceded him — pagan authors whose 
works, though then extant, are now lost. He 
quotes the following from a writer named 
Artapanus, who represents the people of 
Heliopolis in Egypt as giving this account of 
the exodus of the Israelites : " The king of 



THE PENTATEUCH A TBUE HISTOEY. 61 

Egypt, as soon as the Jews had departed 
from his country, pursued them with an im- 
mense army, bearing along with them the 
consecrated animals. But Moses haying by 
the divine command struck the waters with 
his rod, they parted asunder and afforded a 
free passage to the Israelites. The Egyp- 
tians attempted to follow them, when fire 
suddenly flashed in their faces, and the sea, 
returning to its usual channel, brought an uni- 
versal destruction upon their army." [See 
Home's Introduction, Vol. I, page 77, Car- 
ter's edition, 1851.] Now here is a fragment 
from an ancient pagan writer, tallying very 
€losely with the account given in Exodus, 
save that Moses says nothing about fire flash- 
ing in the faces of the pursuing Egyptians. 
But the last four verses of the 77th Psalm 
show, that as the Eed Sea was being crossed, 
there was a thunder storm. While " the 
clouds poured out water," and " the skies 
sent out a sound," God's " arrows also w r ent 
abroad," and His "lightnings lightened the 

world." Thus the Psalmist incidentally cor- 
6* 



62 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

roborates the statement of theHeliopolitans, 
as given by Artapanus. And this Artapa- 
nus is but one of seven ancient pagan writers 
whom Home names as attesting "the depart- 
ure of the Israelites from Egypt, and their 
miraculous passage of the Red Sea." He 
further says, that "the Egyptian, Phenician, 
Greek and Roman authors concur in relating 
the tradition respecting the creation, the fall 
of man, the deluge, and the dispersion of 
mankind." It is true, moreover, that some 
of Christianity's bitterest opposers have 
borne witness to Moses, and to the credibili- 
ty of the Mosaic Books. Neither Porphyry, 
the skeptical Tyrian philosopher of the third 
century, nor Julian, the anti-christian Roman 
emperor of the fourth, much as they hated 
the religion of Jesus, ever ventured to deny 
either that Moses wrote the Pentateuch, or 
that it is a record of facts. 

We come now to contemplate some cor- 
roborative evidence of another and very en- 
tertaining kind. We are to inquire whether 
any traditions or mythological fables, known 



THE PENTATEUCH A TRUE HISTORY. 63 

to have prevailed among ancient pagan na- 
tions, dimly shadow forth the leading facts, 
presented in the Book of Genesis. Is there,, 
we ask, any such resemblance between cer- 
tain facts recorded there and the mythology 
and traditionary lore of primitive ages, as 
helps to confirm us in our conviction that 
Genesis is an inspired and truthful history ? 
Pray what was the pristine Chaos, of which 
the ancients talked so much — that mass of 
unarranged material which, as some thought, 
Chance reduced to order, or which, as others 
argued, the Deity arranged — but " the earth 
* # * without form and void," as described 
in Genesis, first chapter and second verse ? 
And when the poet Hesiod represents Chaos 
as begetting Erebus and Night, and these 
last as parents of the Air and the Day, what 
have we but a distorted version of the facts 
presented in the first six or seven verses of 
that same chapter ? Again : It was believed 
among the ancients — and glowing descrip- 
tions of the period were given by some of 
their poets — that, far back in the past, there 



64 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

was a time when man's condition was one of 
unrningled purity and enjoyment ; when men 
subsisted on what the earth yielded spontane- 
ously, and when, being exempt from toil and 
perplexing cares, they had little or nothing to 
mar their happiness. But there came a time 
when this golden age, as they termed it, was 
succeeded by an age of iron ; a period when 
briers and noxious weeds sprung up, when 
severe toil became necessary, and when 
crimes and calamities every where prevailed, 
rendering the earth a very undesirable abode 
as compared with the golden age. Now who 
does not see a more than casual resemblance 
between this fabled golden age, succeeded as 
it was by an iron one, and man's state before 
&nd after the Fall, as described in the third 
chapter of Genesis ? Again : Since even the 
fictions of classic mythology must have some- 
thing real from which to spring, what, we 
ask, gave rise to the fable, anciently current, 
of the garden of the Hesperides ? This fable 
represented three sisters as having a garden, 
with a tree of golden apples in it. This gar- 



THE PENTATEUCH A TRUE HISTORY. 65 

den and tree were guarded by a dragon ; but 
one of the twelve labors of Hercules consist- 
ed in his slaying the dragon, and then carry- 
ing off the golden apples. Who can read 
this and not be forcibly reminded of that 
" tree of life " which, on man's expulsion 
from Eden, was guarded and rendered inac- 
cessible by "cherubim and a flaming sword ?." 
In both these accounts we have a garden and 
a guarded tree ; and as, in the one account, 
Hercules comes to slay the dragon, so in the 
other a " seed of the woman " is promised, 
who was to " bruise the serpent's head," and 
procure ultimate access for man to the tree 
of life. — Another of the significant fables of 
ancient times was this : By the command of 
Jupiter his son Vulcan fashioned a beautiful 
woman — Pandora — out of clay, and gave her 
life and language. To punish Prometheus, 
who, as some said, had formed a man out of 
clay, and animated him with fire stolen from 
heaven, Jupiter gave Pandora, who had mar- 
ried Prometheus' brother, a box filled with 
all manner of evils. Pandora and husband 



66 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

were commanded not to open the box, but 
curiosity overpowered the wife, and the mo- 
ment she raised the cover, out rushed the 
whole host of evil things and overspread the 
world. Hope chanced to lie at the bottom of 
the box, and Pandora closed the lid just in 
time to keep Hope from escaping. Very dull 
and incredulous must he be, who discerns no 
relationship between this fable and the facts 
recorded in the third of Genesis. If there 
be no such relationship, if those facts did 
not give rise to the fable, it is really quite 
strange that in the fable a woman chanced to 
be the recipient of the mysterious box ; that 
by opening the box in opposition to a divine 
command, a woman was the means of filling 
the earth with every variety of evil ; and that 
hope was left behind to partially compensate 
for the injury done by Pandora's curiosity.. 
Again : That division of time known as the 
week is obviously a whoHy artificial one. 
Unlike the day, the month, and the year, the 
week is a period which no movement of the 
earth or of any heavenly body measures or 



THE PENTATEUCH A TREE HISTORY. 67 

marks out This being true, how are we to 
account for it that many ancient and widely 
separated pagan nations diyided time into 
weeks ? There is ample proof that this ar- 
bitrary division of time was known and ob- 
served by ancient nations that had no Bible, 
and that were not mere imitators of the Is- 
raelites, or of some nation that God had in- 
structed. How explain this but by suppos- 
ing that a tradition of God's having created 
all things in six days, and of his resting on 
the seventh day and hallowing it, had trav- 
eled down from the Creation to the time of 
the Dispersion ; and that thus the scattered 
races of men came to have the artificial 
division of time called the week ? And here 
is another fact which can be accounted for 
only in the same way. I mean the well 
known fact that, in the remotest periods, the 
practice every where prevailed of offering 
animal sacrifices as a part of heathen, idola- 
trous worship. Does reason teach that sin 
can be atoned for, or God rendered propi- 
tious, by an animal sacrificed, by the blood 



68 TAXES TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

of a slain beast? It does not. But God, we 
know, early instructed men to offer slain 
beasts as typical of the divine Lamb that 
was to become an expiatory sacrifice for our 
race. Had not God instituted animal sacri- 
fices, it is not at all probable that the idea of 
propitiating their deities by such offerings 
would ever have entered men's minds. It is 
not unlikely that a tradition of Abel's accept- 
ed (animal) offering and Cain's rejected one 
became universally current, and a means of 
rendering animal sacrifices common among 
the heathen. It is quite significant, too, 
that as Abel presented unto God "the first- 
lings of his flock," and as the Israelites were 
required to " sanctify unto Him all the first- 
born * * "* both of man and of beast," 
so the practice of offering the first-born in 
sacrifice prevailed extensively among ancient 
heathen nations. This can surely be no ac- 
cidental coincidence. It is inexplicable ex- 
cept as we suppose the heathen to have de- 
rived the practice, by tradition, from the 
original appointment of God. And this cor- 



THE PENTATEUCH A TRUE HISTORY. 69 

respondence between their practice and 
what is recorded in the Mosaic Books, affords 
corroborative proof of the reliableness of 
those Books. 

It was to be expected that so momentous 
an event as a general Deluge would, if it ever 
occurred, be recognized or alluded to by the 
pagan writers of antiquity ; and we find that 
it was. In his Introduction Home names 
some ten or eleven authors, more or less 
ancient, who speak of a great Flood that had 
once prevailed and whelmed the world in 
ruin ; and their descriptions of this Flood, 
though mingled with some fabulous items, 
plainly indicate that a tradition of the Deluge 
described by Moses had overspread the 
earth. These ancient writers all agree in rep- 
resenting somebody as being saved, and sav- 
ed in an ark, or floating vessel ; and though 
some of them make Nochus to be the rescued 
person, and others say it was Xisuthrus, and 
still others that it was Deucalion, the identity 
of these floods with the one recorded in Gen- 
esis is none the less evident. To the truth 
7 



70 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

of that record, to the fact of there haying 
been such a Flood, onr globe itself bears am- 
ple testimony ; as confessed by Baron Cuvier 
and other distinguished naturalists. And it 
is undeniable that traditions of the same 
.great event have prevailed in every age, and 
in almost every part of the world. 

Such collateral testimony as the foregoing, 
gathered from ancient heathen writers, and 
serving to establish the truth of the Mosaic 
history, is very abundant. Some of it is 
found in the works of the poets Homer and 
Hesiod, who flourished some 900 years before 
Christ. Portions of Hesiod's Theogony bear 
quite a resemblance to things that Moses has 
recorded, and even Homer has sentiments 
and facts and allusions which remind one 
of Moses and the Pentateuch. Eeaders that 
relish this kind of evidence will read, with 
much interest, two Letters " On the consent 
between the Scriptures and the heathen 
poets," by the Eev. William Jones, an Eng- 
lish clergyman, who died in 1800. They are 
iound in a little volume of his entitled, "Let- 



THE PENTATEUCH A TRUE HISTORY. 71 

ters from a Tutor to his Pupils," and are 
very entertaining. 

Let us now bestow a moment's thought on 
the question, Is there internal evidence that 
the Books of Moses are a true history ? As: 
we read them do we instinctively feel that 
their author was an honest man, conscious 
that all his statements were indisputably 
true? We answer this question by asking 
another : In fabricating a deceptive tale 
would a writer be apt to say disparaging 
things about himself, or to record facts re- 
specting his countrymen, and even respect- 
ing his near relatives, that were humiliating 
and reproachful ? We think not. The sup- 
position is highly improbable. Now the 
author of the Pentateuch confesses, not only 
that his elocution was faulty, but that he was 
forbidden of God to enter Canaan because, 
at Meribah, he had "rebelled," and spoken 
"unadvisedly with his lips." He records 
with fearless fidelity the unbelief, rebellion, 
and sensuality of his fellow Israelites, and 
the judgments with which for that reason 



72 TALKS *T0 MY BIBLE-GLASS. 

they were visited. He neither conceals nor 
palliates the criminal conduct that was at 
one time displayed by his brother and sister, 
or the daring profaneness of his nephews 
Nadab and Abihu, or the awful rebellion and 
doom of his cousin Korah. Was it like a 
forger of lies to say so much in dispraise of 
himself, his kindred, and his countrymen ? 
Had Moses aimed to please the Israelites, 
or to palm upon the world a false history of 
the nation, would he not have suppressed 
such things as were disreputable and humil- 
iating ? Again : The very immethodical man- 
ner in which parts of the Pentateuch are 
composed, — the Books of Exodus, Leviticus, 
and Numbers especially — answering exactly 
to the circumstances of burdensome pressure 
in which Moses wrote them, is another indi- 
cation of the writer's entire reliableness. 
Composing a considerable part of these 
Books while acting as superintendent, judge, 
and recorder, and under the pressure of 
heavy cares and anxieties, he introduces 
some topics two or three different times ; 



THE PENTATEUCH A TRUE HISTORY. 73 

makes occasional additions to, or explana- 
tions of, statutes previously proclaimed; 
mixes up laws, ordinances, and genealogical 
tables ■with narration : in short, records 
things very much, as one would who keeps a 
diary, and who, neglecting method and or- 
derly arrangement, aims only to give a faith- 
ful picture of each day's events as they oc- 
cur. For Moses, in his circumstances, all 
this was natural, For a forger to be thus 
unsystematic would be exceedingly unnatu- 
ral. 

Other marks of veracity are discernible in 
the Pentateuch, but for brevity's sake we 
pass them by. I trust that evidence enough 
has been adduced, external and internal, to 
satisfy all doubting ones that the five Books 
of Moses are undeniably true. The proofs 
of their being a record of facts are many, 
various, and convincing. He who, in the 
iace of all these proofs, doubts the truth or 
divine origin of these Books, might with 
more reason question whether such histo- 
rians as Herodotus, Thucydides, or Xeno- 



74 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

phon ever lived and wrote, or -whether the - 
histories that bear their name are worthy of 
credit. And be it remembered, just here, 
that if the Pentateuch be wholly reliable, a 
history that is minutely true, then God com- 
missioned Moses to be Israel's leader and 
lawgiver, and wrought miracles by Mm in at- 
testation of his being thus commissioned ; 
then in writing the Pentateuch Moses acted 
as God's amanuensis, and hence that " five- 
fold volume" is, as the Jews and the whole 
Christian world have ever believed, an in- 
spired production, a Book emanating from 
God. In the last four Books of the Penta- 
teuch Moses represents himself as acting 
under divine direction, and invested with 
divine authority ; and if he and his Books 
are wholly reliable, it follows that this claim 
of his was well founded. If he was not di- 
vinely authorized to do what he did and to 
write what he wrote, then he was a gross de- 
ceiver, and his Books are neither inspired 
nor authoritative. But if he was a deceiver, 
how could he have palmed upon his country- 



TRUTH OF THE BIBLE AS A WHOLE. YD 

raen a civil and religions polity that should 
— as it confessedly did — govern them for 
hundreds on hundreds of years, and to parts 
of which they yield obedience even now ? Is 
not the conclusion irresistible, then, and are 
we not safe in affirming, that the first five 
Books of the Bible are a true history, are a 
revelation from God ? 
"We are now to inquire, 

Can the remainder of the Bible be relied on 
as emanating from God, and constituting 
an authoritative rule of duty? 

If it be admitted as indisputable — and we 
think we have seen that it must be — that in 
the five Mosaic Books God has begun to give 
men a written revelation, would not the pe- 
rusal of that warrant us to expect some ad- 
denda, something more than what is disclos- 
ed there ? After acquainting us with such 
events as the Creation, the Fall, the Flood, 
the Dispersion, the Call of Abraham, Israel's 
sojourn in Egypt and the Exodus, the Giv- 
ing of the Law, and the arrival after forty 



76 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

years on the confines of Canaan, would it he 
like Him who had revealed thus much to 
leave us in the dark as to any events be- 
yond ? Would He be apt to drop the histo- 
ry of His chosen people, just as they had 
reached the Jordan and could see the Prom- 
ised Land ? Having in the Pentateuch giv- 
en us to expect a Seed of the woman that 
should bruise Satan, a Prophet like unto 
Moses whose words should be authoritative, 
was not the New Testament, with its history 
of Christ's life and the founding of Chris- 
tianity, just what the Pentateuch's divine 
Author had prepared us to anticipate ? The 
remaining Books of the Old Testament, and 
the various parts of the New, are but the 
natural outgrowth of the five Mosaic Books ; 
and he who is firmly convinced that the lat- 
ter are from God, will, if candid, be con- 
strained to acknowledge the divine origin of 
the entire Bible. With these prefatory 
thoughts in view, and remembering that 
though we may never have doubted the Bi- 
ble's divine authority, there are in our day 



TBUTH OF THE BIBLE AS A WHOLE. 77 

many that do, let us now ponder a few of 
the many facts which conspire to prove that 
the Scriptures of the Old and New Testa- 
ments are divinely inspired, and consequent- 
ly authoritative. A few of the proofs which 
to me seem most convincing, are all I shall 
aim to present. 

First. — Of all the books the world has 
known, none wears the aspect of honesty and 
truthfulness to a greater degree than the Bi- 
ble. From beginning to end conscious vera- 
city is stamped upon its very face. In all 
its teachings, narrations and descriptions, it 
bears the impress of Him "who cannot he." 
Its portraits of the human heart and of 
man's native character are minutely accu- 
rate, tallying exactly with what we are 
taught by consciousness and observation. 
It does not, like some works of fiction, make 
its good men and women faultless, nor at- 
tempt any concealment of their imperfec- 
tions, or criminal lapses. The blemishes of 
the pious are not cloaked, nor are the good 
traits of the unsanctified kept out of view. 



78 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

And then there is an artlessness, an una- 
dorned simplicity in the narratives of the Bi- 
ble, which stamps it as being emphatically a 
veracious Book. In describing scenes and 
events the most intensely interesting, it in- 
dulges in no rhetorical display, no word- 
painting, no sensationalism, no aiming at ef- 
fect ; but facts are related in the most un- 
varnished style, and the arts and embellish- 
ments of modern authorship are wholly ig- 
nored. Momentous events are left to produce 
such an effect as they may, with no effort 
on the part of the sacred writers to enhance 
that effect by the use of sensational lan- 
guage. Unlike numerous uninspired pro- 
ductions, the Bible disguises nothing, gloss- 
es nothing, and flatters nobody. It is char- 
acterized, throughout, by eminent fidelity to 
man's soul. It knows no favoritism, or res- 
pect of persons, but the rich and the poor, 
the learned and the illiterate, the illustrious 

and the obscure, are placed on the same 
level, are offered salvation on precisely the 

same terms. If they would obtain forgive- 



TRUTH OF THE BIBLE AS A WHOLE. 79 

iiess, the monarch and the millionaire must 
lift up the prayer, " God be merciful to me 
a sinner," just as humbly as must the slave or 
the mendicant. "Who that is himself ingen- 
uous can read the Bible without confessing, 
that on every page it bears the stamp of an 
ingenuousness and veracity that is nowhere 
excelled ? 

Second. — Some of the Bible's most funda- 
mental truths tally minutely with those that 
are found to be inscribed on men s hearts in 
countries where the Bible itself has never 
gone. Does the Bible teach that there is a 
Supreme Being ? The uninstructed heathen 
are everywhere found to have some idea of 
a God. Do the Scriptures make God a 
being who inspects the conduct and hearts 
of men, who is " angry with the wicked," 
and " who will render to every man accord- 
ing to his deeds ?" Nations unblessed with 
the Bible are found to have essentially the 
same conception of the character of their 
Supreme Being. " Gooly will whip," was 
the reply (made by signs) of the untaught 



80 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

Africans composing the crew of the ship 
Amistad, when asked by Dr. Gallaudet 
whether they had any God, and how their 
God would treat criminals. " No doubt this 
man is a murderer, whom, though he hath 
escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to 
live," said the "barbarians" of Melita, (now 
Malta,) eighteen hundred years ago, as they 
saw the viper hanging on Paul's hand. 
They evidently believed in an overruling 
Power of some sort, in a Power that would 
punish offenders ; and the whole heathen 
world has ever had a similar belief. Does 
the Bible teach the necessity of an atone- 
ment for sin ? Even that truth is found 
written, more or less legibly, on all pagan 
minds ; and being ignorant of the expiation 
made by God's Son, the heathen labor, by 
various acts of penance and self-torture, to 
make the requisite atonement themselves. 
Are we taught in the Scriptures that we are 
to have a ceaseless existence, and that our 
future will, to some, be a state of blessed- 
ness, to others a state of woe ? Nations not 



TBUTH OF THE BIBLE AS A WHOLE. 81 

favored with the Scriptures have been no 
strangers to this solemn truth. What are 
the Elysium and Tartarus of Virgil and oth- 
ers, but an imperfect transcript of the heav- 
en and hell of the Bible ? Now this corres- 
pondence between certain great Bible truths 
and the beliefs of untaught pagan nations, is 
one proof, among many, that the Bible is a 
veracious Book, emanating from the same 
Being that created man, and that has in 
mercy impressed some needed truths on all 
men's hearts, the heathen not excepted, 
Nations "which have not the law" — that is, 
the Scriptures — measurably " show the work 
of the law written in their hearts, their con- 
science also bearing witness." The very 
heathen have "thoughts " which either "ac- 
cuse or else excuse." Bom. ii, 15. 

Do you ask, "Where was the need of any 
Bible, if the very heathen have an accusing; 
conscience, and some idea of a sin-avengiiiM; 
God, a future state, and the need of some 
atonement for sin ? Was not this " work of 

the law written in their hearts " sufficient ? 
8 



82 TALES TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

It was sufficient, I reply, to render them ac- 
countable, but it was not all the light that 
their best good required. It is but faintly 
that the above-named truths are inscribed 
on their minds, and a Book was needed to 
render those truths more discernible, distinct 
and impressive. There was, moreover, one 
great question on which fallen man needed 
light and instruction, namely, How can sin 
be forgiven, and the sinner saved ? And to 
this question Nature and Reason give no re- 
ply. To answer it distinctly, to instruct 
mankind on this all important point, a Booh 
was obviously the best of all mediums, if not 
indeed the only possible one. That men 
might more clearly discern truths of which 
they already had some obscure conceptions, 
and, above all, to acquaint them with the 
sublime fact that God's Son has opened a 
way of escape from woe eternal, it became 
necessary that a sacred Book should be pre- 
pared ; a Book that should bear the impress 
of a divine Author, and copies of which could 
be so multiplied that every child of Adam 



TRUTH OF THE BIBLE AS A WHOLE. 83 

should eventually have one. For imparting 
instruction to man on the momentous themes 
of eternity, what mode could have been se- 
lected that was so wise, so appropriate, as 
an inspired Book ? 

Thied. — If the Bible be not a communica- 
tion from God, it is quite unaccountable that 
for so many centuries its claim to inspiration 
and divine authority has been recognized as 
valid by the whole Christian world. Papists 
and all Protestants, the learned and discrim- 
inating few no less than the illiterate many, 
have been united in this recognition. Not 
only so, but the Bible's credibility as an 
inspired record has over and again been 
thoroughly sifted and triumphantly estab- 
lished, and that, too, by some of the mighti- 
est minds and ablest thinkers that the world 
has produced — men who were led to make 
these sifting inquiries in reply to skeptical 
assailants, and who by their patient research 
have laid the world under lasting obligations. 
Again : That vast numbers of intelligent 
men and women should not only regard the 



84 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

Bible as emanating from God, but should aim 
to obey its teachings, and that many should 
oven submit to a martyr's death rather than 
renounce Christ and His word, is, if the Bible 
is a fiction, marvellous indeed. A book must 
needs afford very strong evidence of its di- 
vine origin to render its reverers willing to 
die rather than apostatize ; and yet thou- 
sands have, by a martyr's death, sealed their 
attachment to the truths of this holy Book. 
View the Bible as uninspired, or as a fabri- 
cation, and how marvellous it is that, to this 
day, the Jews are observing the Passover, 
and other Old Testament ordinances, and 
that the Christian world has for more than 
eighteen centuries been observing the ordi- 
nances of baptism and the Lord's Slipper, 
and keeping the First day of the week as 
their Sabbath. How wonderful, too, if the 
Bible be a lie, that in all our historical and 
chronological works there are found such 
phrases as Anno Mundi, Before Christ, and 
Anno Domini, and that our books and coins 
and letters and documents should be dated 



TRUTH OF THE BIBLE AS A WHOLE. 85 

as they are. What mean these mysterious 
initials B. C. and A. D., or these Arabic 
characters, so arranged, we will say, as to 
read 1875? To the question, How came 
this year to be by all writers and speakers 
called the year 1875 ? we can conceive of a 
skeptic making this reply : " Certain ancient 
impostors trumped up a story, and succeeded 
somehow in making the world believe it, 
how, 1875 years ago, in an obscure Asiatic 
town, a child named Jesus was born, and 
how, as the child grew up, he wrought mira- 
cles, and proved himself to be a Divine Per- 
sonage dwelling in a human body. The 
story w r ent on to say, that after preaching 
and doing wondrous things for some thirty 
or more years, this Jesus allowed himself to 
be seized, tried, and put to death ; it being 
necessary, as the story pretended, that he 
should die a malefactor's death to atone for 
the sins of men, and to be the Saviour of all 
believers; and necessary, moreover, that he 
should rise from the dead and ascend to 

heaven ; as they affirmed that he actually 
8* 



86 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

did. Now the world has been duped by this 
ingenious, artfully-wrought tale, and hence, 
in honor of this pretended Saviour's birth, 
we make it a starting point from which to 
measure time, and the civilized world con- 
sents to call this year, for example, the year 
of our Lord 1875.*' Were it possible for 
one to offer such a reply, my exclamation 
would be, All, skeptic, were it not that the 
Book which you despise threatens some 
men with " strong delusion that they should 
believe a he," I could with difficulty account 
for your incredulity. Would that you and 
all contemners of the Bible, when saying 
"the year of our Lord," could lovingly em- 
phasize that little "our" — could with Tho- 
mas individually exclaim, " My Lord and my 
God !" 

Fourth. — If the Bible be only a "cunningly 
devised fable," here are two facts which it is 
impossible to explain — how it came to be so 
pure a Book as it confessedly is, and how it 
should prove so efficient a purifier of mens 
hearts and lives as it manifestly does. To 



TRUTH OF THE BIBLE AS A WHOLE. 87 

say that the Bible is a pre-eminently pure 
and holy Book, is but saying what even bad 
men are forced to confess. Why do the 
pious revere this Book, and strive to regulate 
their lives by its instructions ? And why, on 
the other hand, is it neglected, disrelished, 
and oft times calumniated by the irreligious? 
Why but because it rebukes all iniquity, 
and is too pure to please minds that are im- 
pure ? Had they been ever so much dispos- 
ed to try, could unprincipled men have com- 
posed such a Book as the Bible — a Book con- 
demning sin of every kind, and threatening 
it with endless punishment unless repented 
of and forsaken — a Book which the wicked 
would universally hate ■ and contemn? It 
may be that there is here and there one who 
deems the Bible an impure Book, because it 
has some facts and precepts of an indelicate 
nature, unfit, as it is thought, to be anywhere 
read except in private. But let us remem- 
ber that it was man's proneness to sensual 
pollutions, and God's regard for truth and 
for man's best good that compelled Him to 



55 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

put such precepts in the Bible, and to ac- 
quaint us with such humiliating facts. It 
was human natures fault, and not God's, that 
the Scriptures contain some things w T hich 
wear an aspect of seeming indelicacy. It 
was no impure aim that placed them there, 
but God's fidelity to man's soul, His desire 
to guard the unwary against indulgences 
that are one of the doorways to hell. 

Besides being an incomparably pure Book, 
the Bible has proved itself an unequalled 
purifier. What other purifying agent has 
ever proved so energetic and effective as 
this? Backed by its divine Author, the 
Bible has done more to promote morality, 
order, subordination to law, and purity of 
heart and life, than all other means combin- 
ed. As a promoter of temperance, chastity, 
honesty, and other moral virtues, it is far 
more efficient than human law, however 
severe the penalties by which the latter is 
seconded, and however ample be the enforc- 
ing power. Though human governments have 
never publicly adopted the Bible as one of 



TRUTH OF THE BIBLE AS A WHOLE. 89 

their appliances for maintaining order and 
peace, it is, without such adoption, one of their 
most powerful aids and backers. Who ever 
knew a good citizen to be transformed into 
a bad one, or an honest man to become a 
rogue, by perusing the Scriptures? Who, 
on the other hand, has not known many bad 
men whom the Bible, blessed of God, has 
made virtuous and upright? Travel the 
world over, and wherever the Bible is ow T ned 
and read by the mass of the people, and es- 
pecially where its truths are statedly preach- 
ed, you will there find a higher-toned moral- 
ity, by far, than in places unblessed with 
the meliorating influence of the Scriptures. 
And besides promoting social order and gen- 
eral sobriety, what multitudes of careless 
and graceless ones has the Bible transformed 
into humble Christians ! What a renovator 
of man's depraved nature has it proved ! 
How many there are on earth and in heaven, 
to whom its truths will ever be inexpressibly 
dear ! Now if the Bible be not from God, it 
tfurely is the strangest of all facts that He 



90 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

should honor and bless it as He does — that 
He should make a forgery the source of such 
immense good among men ! Why not put 
the same honor on the Koran, the Shaster, 
or the Zendavesta ? Why not the same on 
the "Age of Reason," or on any other infi- 
del production ? Reader, is not the fact 
that God everywhere follows the Bible with 
His blessing, and makes it so great a puri- 
fier, a very convincing proof, that it is, as it 
professes to be, His own inspired word ? 

Fifth. — If the Bible be a religious forge- 
ry, is it not strange that its contemners, 
with all the talent and zeal which some of 
them have displayed, have not b}^ this time 
proved it to be a forgery, and succeeded in 
bringing it into general contempt and disuse? 
Learned skeptics have virulently assailed it 
both with the tongue and the pen ; with a 
pains-taking zeal they have left no weapon 
untried, have employed specious but sophis- 
tical reasoning at one time, sneers and pro- 
fane witticisms at another ; and having done 
their utmost, w T hat is the grand result ? Why 



r i i ~ 



TRUTH OF THE BIBLE AS A WHOLE. 91 

the Bible lias laughed all its assailants to 
scorn, has triumphantly maintained its place 
in the world's confidence and veneration, and 
it to-day holds a more commanding and in- 
fluential position than ever before. The 
" oppositions of science, falsely so called," 
have availed nothing ; the many objections 
-urged against the Bible by cavillers are 
proved to be groundless ; and while all Chris- 
tendom confesses it to be a heaven-sent 
Book, there are multitudes who clasp it to 
their hearts, who daily con its sacred pages, 
and who through its influence are becoming 
ripe for heaven. That God should suffer 
an artful tale, put forth in His name, to main- 
tain itself against all opposition, to get firm- 
ly established in the world's confidence, and 
to hold so mighty a sway over intelligent 
men's consciences and wills — how strange, 
how very strange ! Verily, the incredulity 
of the deist is well-nigh a miracle, and the 
skeptic's creed is of all others the most r ra- 
tional. 

I am far from having exhausted the proofs 



92 TALES TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

of the Bible's divine origin and authority^ 
nor was it my design to adduce all the evi- 
dence possible. There are arguments and 
evidences which I have left wholly untouch- 
ed. The subject of miracles and fulfilled pro- 
phecy, for instance, I have passed by in si- 
lence. Eut I have presented evidence 
enough, I trust, to satisfy all sincere and 
candid inquirers. He that, with such proofs 
as the foregoing in view, can still doubt 
whether the Scriptures are worthy of credit 
and obedience, would probably continue a 
doubter even though God with an audible 
voice should assure him of their truth, or 
though some visitor from the unseen world 
should come hither to convince him. What 
occasion for thankfulness have we, that He 
who demands belief only as He affords evi- 
dence, has flooded us with proofs not only of 
His own being, but of the Bible's being from 
Him — a Book whose foundation is as immov- 
able as the very throne of God ! 



SYSTEM m BIBLE READING. 93 



TALK IV. 



The systematic study of the Bible a duty at 
once profitable and pleasurable ; with 
various suggestions which blble- classes 
and readers in general will find benefi- 
CIAL. 

Ie the Scriptures truly are, as they are 
proved to be, a message from God to men, 
then it is the imperious duty of those who 
have access to that message, and who are 
able to read, to peruse it with reverent care 
and frequency. To know that God has caus- 
ed a Book to be prepared for our instruction, 
is reason enough why that Book should be 
studiously examined. Not to study a vol- 
ume that has His imprimatur is to treat Him 
with great irreverence and contempt. If it 
would be deemed grossly contemptuous to 
suffer a letter from one's sovereign, or guar- 
dian, or even father to go unread and un- 
heeded, how insulting, how awfully criminal 
9 



'94 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

will he be deemed, who will not so much as 
examine — much less obey — a communication 
sent him by the Sovereign of the universe, 
the Father and Guardian of us all. 

Does any reader of mine say, I am not yet 
convinced that the Bible is a message from 
God, and I therefore feel myself under no 
obligation to peruse it ? To this supposed 
objection my reply would be, The fact that 
the Bible's divine authority is, after the 
closest scrutiny, admitted by very learned 
investigators and by the whole Christian 
world, is strong presumptive evidence that the 
Book is a divine message ; and you are 
bound to be satisfied with that, until your 
superior sagacity and research has enabled 
you to falsify the world's verdict, and prove 
the Bible a he. How came you and the mass 
of men to believe, confidently, that the sun 
is not far from 1,300,000 times as large as 
the earth, or that the mean distance of the 
two from each other is about ninety-two or 
ninety-three millions of miles? You fully 
.believe this, although to one s eye the sun 



SYSTEM IN BIBLE READING. 95 

seems to be but a little way off, and seems, 
too, to be only a luminous area of but little 
more than a foot in diameter. And you be- 
lieve it, not because you have yourself de- 
monstrated the sun to be thus large and thus 
distant, nor because you comprehend the 
processes by which its size and distance are 
ascertained, but because astronomers have 
made it mathematically certain that the 
above-named computations are very nearly 
correct. Now if you have not the requisite 
leisure or ability to canvass, for yourself, the* 
Bible's claims to inspiration, ought you not to 
credit the testimony of the many learned 
and pious men who with the utmost tho- 
roughness have examined these claims and 
have pronounced them valid ? We have 
seen that among the believers in the Bible's 
divineness are many eminent scholars and 
profound thinkers — men that could not be 
cheated into the belief of any thing that was 
not sustained by the best of evidence. He,, 
then, who will neither accept the testimony 
of such vouchers, nor examine for himself a 



96 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

Book that professes to be a message from 
heaven, is willfully blind, is strangely infatu- 
ated. 

Hoping that all my readers regard the 
Scriptures as the undoubted "oracles of 
God," and deem it a duty to be in the habit 
of perasing them, I have now a number of 
important suggestions to make as to the 
manner' of reading them ; suggestions which 
I trust will be found valuable, and well suit- 
ed to enhance the pleasure and profit with 
w T hich you study the sacred Book. 

I wish to impress you, in the first place, 
with the importance of being very systematic 
in your perusal of the Bible. There are 
those whose Bible reading is so unmethod- 
ized, so devoid of all plan or system, that the 
benefit accruing is but very small. In mat- 
ters of business and worldly enterprise sys- 
tem, as we all know, is well nigh essential to 
much success. Experience has taught men 
that if they would accomplish much, or labor 
to the best advantage, they must have before 
them some programme of action, some well- 



SYSTEM IN BIBLE READING. 97 

defined plan of procedure. It is marvellous 
how much more and better work will be per- 
formed by him that is methodical in what he 
does — him who first resolves what he will do, 
and how and when he will do it, than by him 
that is ever without any definite plan of op- 
eration. Now all this is just as applicable 
to the business of acquainting one's self with 
the Bible, as it is to any employment of a 
secular kind. And he whose perusal of the 
Bible is utterly unplanned and unsystematic, 
will doubtless have but a very superficial 
knowledge of the Book. 

To be thoroughly systematic in one's 
study of the Scriptures, four things need to 
be considered, or embraced in his plan. 
Four questions present themselves : first, 
Hotu often shall I commonly read some por- 
tion of Scripture ? Every day ? Or but 
twice or thrice a week? Or only on the 
Sabbath ? Second, What part of ike day — 
morning or evening, forenoon or afternoon, 
— will I ordinarily take for looking into the 
sacred oracles ? Third, Shall I determine, 



98 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

beforehand, just where I will read? Or 
shall I open the Bible at random and let 
chance say where ? And, fourth, Hoio large 
a portion of Scripture shall I ordinarily go 
over at each perusal, or in the course of a 
w eek ? Let us bestow a little thought on 
each of these four questions. 

He who seriously asks, With what degree 
of frequency ought I to consult the oracles 
of God ? will probably reach the" same con- 
clusion that all the pious have reached, 
namely, that some portion of Scripture 
should, as a rule, be read every day. If the 
portion that is read is necessarily small, or 
if there is now and then a day when Bible 
reading has to be omitted, still the rule 
should be, read at least a little portion day by 
day. A suitable reverence for the Bible's 
divine Author seems to demand this, and so 
does our own moral welfare. We can not 
afford to have several days intervene between 
one perusal of the Book and another. That 
we may escape the many snares with which 
our pathway is beset, may discriminate 



SYSTEM IX BIBLE READING. 99> 

between the precious and the worthless, the 
solid and the superficial, and may with safety 
encounter life's temptations and trials, we 
need the daily application of such principles 
and warnings as are found in the Scriptures. 
It is little enough that we know of these holy 
oracles and their inexhaustible riches, even 
when, like the Bereans, we search them daily. 
If the petition, " Give us this day our daily 
bread," is one which it is proper to offer 
every day, ought we not to crave a daily 
supply of that spiritual food which the Scrip- 
tures were designed to furnish ? 

If a daily perusal is decided on, the next 
inquiry will naturally be, When, or at aboid 
what hour in the day shall the Bible be read ? 
Not that one must invariably devote to this 
duty precisely the same hour every day. It 
is nearly certain, however, that if one has no 
habit of Bible reading at or about a certain 
hour, if it is every day an unsettled question 
whether he will use for this purpose an early 
morning hour, or some afternoon or evening 
hour, his Bible will go unread most of the 



100 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

week, unless it be on the Sabbath. There 
are some duties which, if you would be sure 
of not leaving undone, you must form the 
habit of performing; and a habit, we well 
know, becomes stronger and stronger, not 
only by the frequent repetition of a given 
act, but by its repetition at certain fixed 
hours, or stated seasons. The stated sea- 
sons and the act are 'so associated in the 
mind, that the return of the seasons, or cus- 
tomary periods, prompts to the performance 
of the act, or the duty. It is on this princi- 
ple that some religious duties — as that, for 
example, of daily praying in secret, and that 
of daily reading the Scriptures — demand a 
certain degree of periodicity — that is, allot- 
ted hours for their being done. They, there- 
fore, who feel that they ought to read some 
portion of Scripture daily, will find it profit- 
able to have, ordinarily, a set time for doing 
it. Circumstances may sometimes oblige 
you to vary the hour for reading, but by all 
means have an allotted hour. Purposiug to 
consult the word daily, without purposing at 



SYSTEM IN BIBLE BEADING. 101 

what hour you will commonly do it, will prob- 
ably prove an unexecuted purpose. The day 
will pass and your Bible will probably remain 
unopened. — If asked which part of a day I 
deemed the best for Bible reading I would 
-answer, Some morning hour, before the busi- 
ness of the clay is fairly begun, or has pro- 
gressed far, and before the mind becomes 
absorbed in worldly concerns. The portion 
of Scripture that is read then may furnish 
matter for useful contemplation throughout 
the day, or may prove a needed safeguard 
-against temptation. It is in the morning 
that the mind is usually freest from care, 
and Bible truth may then, perhaps, be ex- 
pected to make the strongest impression. 
The question, however, whether a morning 
or afternoon or evening hour shall be select- 
ed, is one that must of course be left for 
each reader to settle, as his convenience may 
dictate. It is not so important tchat hour 
you fix upon, as that you fix upon some hour, 
some time in the day when you will reverent- 
ly read and ponder what God has revealed, 



102 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

Having decided ojx the hour that is most 
convenient, let no slight obstacle prevent 
your employing it in the way you contem- 
plated. 

When one has resolved on examining the 
Scriptures daily, and has even fixed on some 
given hour that he will commonly use for 
this purpose, a third question will be, Shall I 
begin with Genesis, go through the Scrip- 
tures in course, and keep repeating this pro- 
cess year after year ? Or shall I from day 
to day open the Bible and read just where it 
happens ? There are not many, I trust, who 
would willingly pursue this latter course ; 
since it is obvious that if Chance is always 
to direct where one shall open and rend, a 
thorough knowledge of the Bible as a whole 
would never be attained. It may occasion- 
ally be proper and profitable to read in this 
accidental kind of way, but, as a rule, one 
should know, in advance, just where he ex- 
pects to read, and when a given Book of 
Scripture has been commenced, it should by 
all means be read through. Doubtless the 



system: in bible reading. 103 

entire volume should be gone over in course 
niany times during one's life, but you need 
not invariably go from Genesis ontoBevela- 
tion consecutively. While no part of the Bi- 
ble should be left unread, there will be no im- 
propriety in your perusing some parts of it 
with more frequency and care than others. 
It is not essential that you be as minutely 
familiar with the long genealogical lists of 
the Old Testament, or with the precise 
boundaries of each of the twelve tribes in 
Canaan, or with all the prescriptions of the 
Levitical law, as with the preceptive and de- 
votional parts, or as with the history at large. 
Should you read some portions of the Old 
Testament oftener or more studiously than 
the parts just alluded to, or study the New 
Testament even more profoundly than the 
Old, you will in thus doing wrong neither 
j ourself nor the Bible. Beware, however, of 
the mistake which some make, in supposing 
the Old Testament to be only a collection of 
abrogated rules and unimportant facts, and 
the religion it inculcates to be widely differ- 



104 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

ent from that of the New. The Mosaic econ- 
omy is indeed done away, but the Old Testa- 
ment is not therefore an obsolete or unneed- 
ed part of the Bible ; and the piety of its 
patriarchs, prophets and other saints, was 
essentially the same as that of all Christ's 
disciples. If your convenience will allow, 
some of you will deem it wise, perhaps, to 
read a little in both Testaments during the 
progress of a week : — in the Old, we will say, 
on certain fixed days of the week, and in the 
New on the others. Whether it be in the 
Old or the New, take care, as a rule, not to 
read at random, but in some predetermined 
place. 

The fourth question that every systematic 
Bible reader will naturally ask is, How mack 
space shall I go over each day? To this 
some advisers would reply, Ascertain how 
many chapters you must daily average to 
carry you through the Bible once every year, 
and read that number daily. For the mass 
of Bible students I deem this counsel unwise. 
It calls for a larger daily portion than most 



SYSTEM IN BIBLE READING. 105 

persons could spare time to read, or, to say 
the least, than they could read with any 
suitable thoroughness. To go over the 1189 
chapters of the Bible in a year, one must 
average a little over three and a quarter 
chapters a day ; and none but men of abun- 
dant leisure can with thoroughness go over 
as much space as that, day by day. No 
reader of the Scriptures ought, for the sake 
of reading them through in some specified 
time, to read so rapidly as to read inatten- 
tively and superficially. Better go through 
the Bible on a moderate walk than to gallop 
through. Some, doubtless, know less of the 
Bible after the tenth or twentieth perusal, 
than others do after going through it but 
once or twice. But while, for the reason 
just named, I think it unwise for readers to 
attempt so rapid a perusal as to get through 
once a year, it seems important, for system's 
sake, that they should determine about how 
much space they will ordinarily go over in 
each day's reading. It is expedient to fix on 

a given space that is to be gone over dailvj 
10 



106 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

- even if you are sometimes obliged to read 
less than your rule requires. How long a 
portion of Scripture, then, might the mass of 
readers properly be advised to examine in 
one day ? I shall here be expected, no doubt, 
to indorse the plan of reading by chapters, 
and to recommend, perhaps, that one chap- 
ter a day be statedly read from year to year. 
But besides that's seeming to be somewhat 
too slow a rate of progress — three years and 
a quarter being required to go once through 
the Bible — there is this other objection : So 
very unequal are the chapters in length, that 
the reader who had adopted this rule would 
at one time have but two verses to read, 
while at another he would have one hundred 
and seventy six. The portion which at one 
time was so short that five minutes would 
suffice for its examination, would at other 
times be so long as to need an hour or two 
for its thorough perusal. Cardinal Hugo's 
contrivance — the division of the Bible into 
chapters — furnishes the pilgrim that is pass- 
ing through the sacred Book numerous inns, 



SYSTEM IN BIBLE READING. 107 

where he may rest and get prepared for an- 
other onward move. But, as already hinted,- 
these halting places are so unequally dis- 
tributed — are some of them so near each 
other, and some so far apart, that the travel- 
er is in danger either of resting too often and 
becoming indolently inert, or of fainting by 
the way when the inns are too widely sepa- 
rated. Why not, then, sometimes read the 
Bible by pages or by columns, rather than by 
chapters ? By this method you make the 
inns to be at equal distances along the entire 
route ; and for aught I can see, the end of a 
page or column makes about as good a rest- 
ing place as the close of a chapter. To such 
persons, then, as do not abound in leisure, 
but are disposed to study the Bible a little 
eyery day, and disposed to doit in a system- 
atic way, I venture to recommend some' 
such plan as the following. 

I haye before me an 18mo. Reference Bi- 
ble containing 1008 pages. Suppose now 
that I resolve to read this through at the 
moderate rate of three columns, or a page 



108 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

and a half for eacli secular day of the week, 
and three pages for every Sabbath. This easy 
rate of progress will take me once through 
the 1008 pages in just 84 weeks, or a fraction 
less than a year and two-thirds. If any 
reader should deem a page and a half a day 
a little too much for him to thoroughly ex- 
amine, or should find it difficult to keep his 
place when halting at the foot of a column, 
let him lessen the rate to one page a day on 
the six secular days, and two pages on the 
day of rest. Progressing at this latter rate, 
he would go through a Bible of 1008 pages 
in just 126 weeks, or a little more than two- 
and-one-third years. Now who is there, 
however many and urgent his business cares, 
that cannot find time to read his Bible daily, 
with some thoroughness, at the very mode- 
rate rate just named ? If there be those who 
think they can not, those w^ho seldom con- 
sult or even open the Book of God on a 
working day, to them I would respectfully 
say, Make time to read at least some in the 
Scriptures every day, even if it be at the 



SYSTEM IX BIBLE BEADING. 109 

>cost of neglecting some item of your secular 
avocations. You can not afford to defraud 
yourselves so much, or to treat the Bible's 
Author so slightingly as to let His Book go 
unread, or as to confine yoiu* perusal of it to 
the Sabbath day. 

The plan just suggested has the advantage 
.of equalizing the readings of each day, or 
the spaces to be gone over ; and it would 
iake one through a Bible of 1008 pages seven 
times in a fortnight less than seventeen 
years, or 21 times in a little less than fifty-one 
years. It can of course be easily adjusted 
to Bibles of any other size, or number of 
pages. Reading by pages, instead of chap- 
ters, will be found sufficiently convenient ; 
but my readers will value the plan at what- 
ever they deem it really worth. 

I am taking it for granted, you observe, 

that in the daily perusal of the Bible you 

^vill uniformly use one and the scone cojjy ; a 

thing that all Bible students will find it wise 

to practice. If for any reason one wishes to 

xecall or find a Scripture passage or para- 
10* 



110 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

graph, it aids the memory to be able to lo- 
cate the passage on a certain part of a right 
or a left-hand page. And here lies the advan- 
tage of continuously using the same copy. 
The memory hates to have its localizing^ 
disturbed by a change from large copies to 
small, or from small to large, and it becomes 
confused when such changes are often made. 
— If you would have your Bible reading as 
thorough and profitable as possible, you will 
not only use the same copy from day to day, 
but you will take care to select a copy that 
has the Marginal Readings and References. 
Says an eminent Hebraist, " I have gone reg- 
ularly through the Marginal Readings, and 
have found, with few exceptions, that they 
literally agree with Eastern language in idiom 
and figure * * * * * and I think few 
readers will doubt that they are the correct 
translations." To say the least, they will 
sometimes give one a clearer idea of the ex- 
act meaning and force of the original, than 
the text alone will ; and it is well never to 
pass them unnoticed. But the Marginal 



SYSTEM IN BIBLE READING. Ill 

References are still more important. They 
enable you to compare passages of a similar 
import, to study the Bible by subjects, and to 
reduce its unclassified truths to an orderly 
system. There are many readers, and even 
many professing Christians, I fear, who, 
though they read the Scriptures with some 
frequency, never acquire a symmetrical view 
of the truths there taught. By not compar- 
ing passage with passage and part with part, 
or by not examining with equal care and duly 
weighing all the teachings of Scripture, they 
never educe from the Bible a complete sys- 
tem of theological truth. They have a relig- 
ous creed, but it is one-sided and defective 
because they have unconsciously derived it 
from fallible human teachings, more than 
from a pains-taking, unprejudiced examina- 
tion of the infallible word itself. There is 
such a thing, too, as searching the Scriptures 
for the sake of building up a theory, or con- 
firming one's self in certain preconceived 
opinions ; such a thing as consulting them, 
not so much from an honest desire to know 



112 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

and obey what they do teach, as to make them 
teach what we wiseacres imagine they ought 
to. If the Bible be accepted at all, it must 
be accepted in all its parts, and care must 
be taken not to exalt one Bible truth, or one 
attribute of God, at the expense of another. 
He that dwells with delight on the passages 
which affirm that " God is love," that " He 
clelighteth in mercy," and is " not willing 
that any should perish," must not forget or 
overlook those other passages which tell him 
that " God is angry with the wicked every 
day," and that "these shall go away into ever- 
lasting punishment." If he loves to hear it 
said, " Whosoever will, let him take the 
water of life freely," he must not hear with 
reluctance that " it — that is, salvation — is not 
of Mm that loilleth * * * but of God that 
showeth mercy," and that He " hath mercy 
on whom he will have mercy." Would that 
all Bible readers realized the importance of 
studying that Book in its icholeness, and of 
aiming to arrive at a comprehensive, sym- 
metrical view of that svstem of truth w T hich 



SYSTEM IN BIBLE READING. 113 

:iii an unclassified state is found there. And 
if this is important, so is it that the Bible in 
which you daily read be a Reference Bible, 
and that as you proceed, the parallel passa- 
ges referred to in the margin be looked out 
and examined. 

If your means and your leisure for reading 
will permit, you will do well to have at hand 
a few of the best helps, critical and explana- 
tory, which learning has furnished for gain- 
ing a thorough knowledge of the Bible. 
With such helps, for example, as Smith's 
Dictionary of the Bible, Coleman's Histori- 
cal Text Book and Atlas of Biblical Geo- 
graphy, Bush's Scripture Illustrations, Nev- 
ins' Biblical Antiquities, and others that 
might be named, you will pursue Bible study 
with augmented profit and pleasure. To be 
somewhat familiar with the geography and 
chronology of the Bible, with Oriental man- 
ners and customs, and with Biblical Antiqui- 
ties in general, is almost indispensable if one 
would read the Scriptures understanclingly, 
or with great pleasure. With added interest 



114 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

we follow the Israelites in their journeyings, 
or Paul in his missionary tours, when with 
a map we trace them from place to place, or 
when, with a Geography of Bible countries 
in hand, we acquaint ourselves with the sce- 
nery and other individualities of the regions 
they traversed and the places they visited. 
"What Job means in saying (Job xxxi, 21) 
" When I saw my help in the gate" is unin- 
telligible until some book on Biblical Anti- 
quities informs|us that, in the walled cities 
of the East, the main entrance, or gate, was 
the place where courts of justice were held ? 
and where magistrates gave decisions. Then 
we see Job's meaning to be, that he had 
never wronged the fatherless by endeavoring- 
to procure an unjust decision against him in 
a trial at law. He had seen his " help in the 
gate ;" that is, his personal rank or his official 
dignity — for Job was a magistrate at one 
time — would have enabled him to defeat the 
fatherless in his cause, but he had not thus 
used the power he possessed. This speci- 
men will serve to show that some knowledge 



SYSTEM IN BIBLE BEADING. 115 

of Oriental customs and peculiarities is need- 
ful, if we would see the force of some things 
that the Scriptures say. 

It will be seen that in speaking of helps to 
Bible study I have said nothing respecting 
Commentaries. The truth is, the mass of 
Bible readers have neither time nor inclina- 
tion to wade through an extensive Commen- 
tary, and to advise them to attempt it would 
hardJy be wise. They think it quite as much 
as they can afford, to examine with care so 
large a book as the Bible itself, without hav- 
ing to go through still larger volumes in 
order to comprehend this. To be told that 
such an accompaniment was necessary would 
be disheartening, and might render them 
averse to Bible study. Besides, is not the 
influence of Commentaries on readers' minds 
somewhat enfeebling ? Have they no ten- 
dency to keep those that use them freely 
from beino- vigorous thinkers? Were one 
that is sound of limb to contract the habit of 
using crutches, his hmbs would by disuse 
become weak, and crutches would soon get 



116 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

to be indispensable. Is there no danger of 
its being somewhat so with him who, instead 
of plying his mental energies and trying to 
fathom the Bible for himself, lets commenta- 
tors do all his thinking and study for him? 
That the Bible student may sometimes stand 
in need of Commentaries, and that they have 
proved extensively useful, can not be ques- 
tioned. I query, however, whether it is wise 
for readers in general — and especially for 
the young — to grapple such huge volumes as 
the Commentaries of Poole, or Scott, or 
Henry, or Lange. Resort to such aids for 
understanding the Scriptures when absolute- 
ly necessary, but as far as possible rely on 
your own earnest, pains-taking study of the 
Book itself. 

I may have readers who will thank me, if,., 
before bringing this Talk to a close, I offer 
a few suggestions adapted to aid them in the 
interpretation of the Scriptures. It must be 
remembered, for instance, that our English 
Bible has some words which have not the 
same meaning, there, that is now attached to 



SYSTEM W BIBLE BEADING. 117 

those words. With us the word 'prevent 
means to hinder ; but to give it that mean- 
ing in Ps. 21. 3 ; 59. 10 ; 88. 13 ; 119. 147, 
148, or in 1 Th. 4. 15, would make nonsense. 
Give the word its primary signification of 
come or go before, get the start of, anticipate, 
and the meaning of those passages is at once 
apparent. As we use the word let, one would 
naturally interpret the middle clause of 2 Th. 
2. 7 as meaning, " He who now permitteth 
will permit ;" whereas the meaning is that 
He who now hindereth will hinder. With us 
the word conversation is limited to one's talk, 
or vocal utterances, but in the New Testa- 
ment it means behavior, or deportment. 
House, with us, means an edifice, but in the 
Bible it is many times synonymous with our 
word family, or household. " Earing time ' 5 
(See Ex. 34. 21) does not mean, as one might 
suppose, a time for lopping off or gathering 
ears of grain, but ploughing time. 

It must be remembered, too, that some 
Bible words have not invariably the same 
meaning. The same English word is often 



118 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

used in different senses, and the sense it lias 
in a given place must be judged of by tlie con- 
nection. "Let the dead bury their dead" 
(Luke 9. 60) would be absurd, if the first dead 
meant the same as the second. " I died," 
says Paul in one place ; but we see at a 
glance that he uses the word died in a meta- 
phorical and not a literal sense. Moses tells 
us that " God did tempt Abraham ;" and yet 
in speaking of God James says, " Neither 
tempteth He any man." If tempt means ex- 
actly the same in both places, these passa- 
ges contradict each other. We reconcile 
them by understanding the one to mean, that 
God tried or proved Abraham ; the other, 
that God entices no man to sin, as Satan does. 
The word hell, in its popular acceptation, 
means the world of future woe, the abode of 
the lost ; and it sometimes has that sense in 
the Bible, but not invariably. Were that its 
only meaning, how strangely would that verse 
of Scripture sound (Acts 2. 31) where Peter 
says that Christ's "soul was not left in hell !" 
Not left in hell? a reader might exclaim. 



SYSTEM IX BIBLE READING. 119 

Did Christ, then, when He expired, become 
even a transient tenant of the hell in which 
Dives "lifted up his eves, being in tor- 
ments ?" The seeming mystery vanishes 
when we learn that " hell" in Acts 2. 27, 31, 
and in several other places, means the unseen 
world, or the abode of departed spirits 
whether good or bad ; while in other places 
it designates that part of the world of spirits 
where the wicked are supposed to dwell. Of 
Hades or "hell," as the receptacle of depart- 
ed spirits in general, Christ became a tenant 
when He " gave up the ghost;" but His part 
of Hades was a place of delight, a " para- 
dise," while the part to which Dives was as- 
signed was a place of torment. 

When, as is sometimes the case, a passage 
of Scripture seems to teach a doctrine which, 
though advocated by some, is pronounced 
unsound by Christians in general, take care 
not to accept it as true, till with care and 
candor you have searched the Bible to see 
whether the supposed doctrine accords with 
the general teachings of that Book. If it 



120 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

does not, if your interpretation of the pas- 
sage in question is contravened by other 
passages, instead of concluding that the Bi- 
ble contradicts itself, or contains doctrines 
that cannot be reconciled, you should ques- 
tion the correctness of your interpretation. 
Search and see whether the passage be not 
susceptible of a better exposition, and one 
that will harmonize with the others. Sup- 
pose, for instance, I have heard it con- 
fidently affirmed that the annihilation of 
the finally ivicleed is a Bible doctrine ; that 
we are taught, in that Book, that none but 
the pure and pious are to have an endless 
existence. I am referred, we will say, to 
Bom. 2. 7, as one of the passages that prove 
this, and I there find, sure enough, that 
" immortality " is named as a thing which 
good men "seek for " leaving me to infer 
that perpetuity of being is a boon that none 
will obtain save those " who, by patient con- 
tinuance in well doing, seek for " it. "Would 
that inference be a just one ? No : it would 
clash with what is taught in numerous other 



SYSTEM IN BIBLE BEADING. 121 

passages, But if this be so, what am I to 
do with the passage which seems to say, 
that unless we strive for an endless exist- 
ence, we shall by and by cease to exist? 
Why, I must rectify my erroneous interpret- 
ation of the passage. A little study of it 
will conTince me that Paul refers in this 
yerse to the happy futurity of the righteous, 
and that by aphtharsia — the word translated 
"immortality," and which literally means 
imperishableness — he meant a blessed imper- 
ishableness, and not siniply a ceaseless exist- 
ence. So when Christ is said to have 
" brought life and immortality to light through 
the gospel," the meaning is that through Him 
a mode of securing life eternal, or a blessed 
immortality, is made known. Such an im- 
mortality none will have, of course, but those 
who " seek for it " acceptably ; but it by no 
means follows that the wicked will have no 
immortality, no endless hereafter. 

"Were it not for what the Bible elsewhere 
says, one might suppose, when reading Luke, 

20- 35, and Ph. 3. 11, that none will share in 
11* 



122 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

" the resurrection of the dead " but such as; 
" shall be accounted worthy," or such as as- 
siduously strive to " attain unto " a resurrec- 
tion. "We reconcile these passages with 
those which say, "All that are in the graves 
shall hear His voice, and shall come forth," 
and " there shall be a resurrection of the 
dead, both of the just and unjust," by re- 
membering that Luke and Paul, in the ver- 
ses referred to, are speaking of the resurrec- 
tion of the just, and of the glorious future 
that is in reserve for them. 

Once more : Suppose I am asked to be- 
lieve that, at death, man ceases to have any 
conscious existence, and that until the dead 
are roused from their oblivious sleep by the 
"trump of God," they are as devoid of 
thought and sensibility as though they had. 
never existed. Among the passages that are; 
supposed to prove this, I am pointed, we will, 
say, to these words (Ps. 146. 4) : "His, 
breath goeth forth, hereturnethto his earth„ 
in that very day his thoughts perish." Now if 
one's thoughts perish the very day he dies, 



SYSTEM IN BIBLE READING. 123 

does it not prove, say some, that lie then 
ceases to think or to be conscious, and that 
the doctrine of an intermediate state — in 
which the soul, though separated from the 
body, retains all its susceptibilities and pow- 
ers — is a gross delusion ? Plausible as this 
exposition and inference may at first seem, 
a careful examination of the Bible shows me 
that the said exposition is not sustained but 
disproved by various other passages, and I am 
obliged to revise my hasty interpretation of 
the one in question. I learn that the word 
thoughts, as used hi the Scriptures, includes 
one's resolves or purposes, and then I see the 
meaning of the above passage to be, not that 
thought and consciousness are extinguished 
by death, but that death puts an end to all 
one's earthly schemes and purposes. View- 
ing him merely as a tenant of earth, his 
thoughts and plans and enterprises " perish,' ? 
or are broken off, the very day he dies. 
Having one's " thoughts perish " in this 
sense, is a very different thing from his ceas- 
ing to think at all. 



124 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

There are those who either forget, or seem 
not to know, that the inspired writers use 
language and the various figures of speech 
just as modern authors do ; that metaphor 
and metonomy, irony and hyperbole are 
found in the Bible just as they are in other 
books ; and hence that the same general laws 
of interpretation by which other writings are 
explained are applicable to the Scriptures. 
It was by not distinguishing between literal 
and figurative language that many of Christ's 
sayings were misapprehended by the Jews ; 
and it is for the same reason that some pas- 
sages of Scripture are wrongly interpreted 
now. Take, for example, these words found 
in Eev. 20. 4, 5 : "And they (that is, 'the 
souls of them that were beheaded for the 
witness of Jesus,' and so forth) lived and 
reigned with Christ a thousand years. But 
the rest of the dead lived not again until the 
thousand years were finished. This is the 
first resurrection." By giving this passage 
a strictly literal interpretation, it isbelievedby 
very many that, before He oomes to judge 



SYSTEM IN BIBLE BEADING. 125 

the world, Christ is to have a personal reign 
of a thousand years on the earth ; that the 
pious dead, or those at least who had been 
martyrs for Christ's sake, are to rise from 
the dead and share in the Saviour's personal 
reign ; while between their resurrection and 
that of the "rest of the dead" a thousand 
years are to intervene. Do you ask what 
reason I have for believing this to be a mis- 
taken exposition, and the "resurrection' 5 
here spoken of to be a metaphorical and not 
a literal one ? My answer is, that the Scrip- 
tures nowhere intimate — unless it be here — 
that Jesus is to reign on the earth in person, 
or that He will " appear the second time" 
until the day of Judgment, or that there is to 
b>e an interval between the resurrection of the 
just and the unjust. So far from this, where- 
ver they speak of the resurrection proper, 
they lead us to infer that the Judgment and 
the Resurrection will take place simultane- 
ously, and that the latter will be general, em- 
bracing both the wicked and the righteous. 
See John 11. 24 ; 5. 28, 29 ; Matt. 13. 49. 



126 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

But if the resurrection here named be not a, 
literal one, and the righteous are not to rise 
at an earlier date than the wicked, why is the 
word resurrection used, and why are we told 
that "this is the first resurrection?" An- 
swer. The thousand years' reign that Christ 
is here said to have, is to be a spiritual reign 
— a period in which all nations and kindreds 
will honor and obey Him. This millennial 
reign of Christ will be a spiritual resurrection 
— a resurrection from death " in trespasses 
and sins " — on a very extensive scale ; and 
in this " resurrection," metaphorically so 
called, the pious dead are in spirit to partici- 
pate. Though absent from the earth and 
from the body, they will in spirit " live and 
reign with Christ ;" while the unregenerate 
dead will not, in this metaphorical sense, 
"live again" till the thousand years are 
ended, and Satan is again set loose. And 
this great moral revolution, or spiritual res- 
urrection, is styled " the first resurrection," 
because it will precede the resurrection of 



SYSTEM IN BIBLE READING. 127 

^'both the just and unjust " that is to occur 
"at the last day." 

Other passages of Scripture might be 
named which, by not distinguishing nicely be- 
tween the literal and figurative use of words, or 
through ignorance of the principles of Bibli- 
cal Interpretation, have been misinterpreted 
and made to teach what they were never 
designed to teach. It is hoped that the 
foregoing suggestions, and the specimens of 
erroneous interpretation that I have given, 
w T ill afford youthful readers and others some 
aid in their study of the Bible, and will im- 
press them with the necessity of searching 
the Scriptures with earnestness and candor, 
if they would in all instances be correct in- 
terpreters. 

And now, readers, let me persuade you all, 
whether youthful or aged, professor or non- 
professor, the man of leisure or the busiest 
of the busy, to make the Bible your daily 
study, your confidential counselor and friend. 
Differ, I pray you, differ widely from those 
-by whom the review, the magazine, the 



128 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

newspaper, or the popular novel are allowed 
to exclude God's Book from all private pe- 
rusal, unless it be on the Sabbath. By many, 
the best of all books is tacitly stricken off the 
list of books for daily perusal, and pronounc- 
ed old-fashioned and prosy. Not to be 
f amiliar with the fictitious literature of the 
day would mortify many a one whom it would 
not at all mortify to be found profoundly ig- 
norant of the Bible. Are you willing to be 
ranked with this class ? I am unwilling to 
rank you there. Much other reading you of 
course will need and will have, but I hope 
you will let no book usurp the place that 
belongs to the Book of books. Let me hope, 
too, that you will not merely look into, but 
" search the Scriptures daily," as did the Be- 
reans. Content not yourselves with just 
glancing over a chapter or page to satisfy the 
demands of conscience. Better examine a 
few verses only, with some thoroughness and 
with meditation, than read whole chapters 
superficially. The Bible is a mine of gold, 
inexhaustible, and incomparably rich ; but to 



SYSTEM IN BIBLE READING. 129 

such only as are willing to dig for it will it 
yield much of its wealth. Do I hear you 
ask whether digging in this mine will pay ? 
Believe me, readers, it will. No toil that yon 
are expending on other objects, no earthly 
investment that you are making, will prove 
more remunerative. The words addressed 
to Joshua when none but the five Mosaic 
Books had been written, may with added 
emphasis be addressed to you : " This Book 
of the law shall not depart out of thy mouthy 
but thou shalt meditate therein day and 
night, that thou mayest observe to do accord- 
ing to all that is written therein : for then thou 
shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou, 
shalt have good success" Would my readers. 
" make their way prosperous," or have a 
successful earthly career ? And would they 
secure for themselves a joyous hereafter ? 
Become familiar with the " oracles of God." 
Treasure up the instructions of " this Book 
of the law," and " meditate therein " every 
day. Above all, see that you " observe to do" 

what you are there exhorted to do, and von 
12 



130 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

shall find it eminently profitable for " the 
life that now is," and for " that which is to 
come." Put yourselves unreservedly under 
the guidance of the Bible, and it will go be- 
fore you in your passage through this wil- 
derness, open a path for you through "death's 
<3old flood," and secure for you in heaven an 
^everlasting homa 



LITTLE EVENTS VIEWED AS PIVOTS. 131 



TALK V. 



The magnitude of uttle acts and events, and 
the amazing value of fragments. 

To speak of the "magnitude of little 
things " is to express an important truth en- 
igmatically, or in the form of a paradox. 
Experience has taught men that some things 
are in one sense large, while in another they 
are very small. No thoughtful reader of 
history or of the great volume of Providence, 
has failed to observe that many acts and 
events which, when they took place, were 
seemingly very trivial, and in themselves were 
really so, have subsequently assumed an 
amazing importance. The little and seem- 
ingly unimportant events proved to be pivots, 
on which consequences of great magnitude 
were made to turn. The Scriptures present 
us with many instances of the kind alluded 
to. It took Eve but a moment to pluck and 



132 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

taste the forbidden fruit, and to her, doubt- 
less, the act of that one moment seemed not 
a very consequential one. Probably she 
little dreamed that the one little act of that 
little moment was to affect the character and 
destiny of countless millions, and be fraught 
with consequences of infinite magnitude. 
.Examine the twenty-fourth of Genesis with 
care and you will see that Rebekah's whole 
after life — her becoming the wife of Isaac, 
.and a distant progenitor of Jesus Christ — 
hinged upon her saying to Abraham's ser- 
vant, when asked for only a drink of water, 
" Drink, and I will give thy camels drink 
.also." It was apparently not very probable 
or important that she should offer to water 
a stranger's camels, ten in number, and that 
when several strong men were standing by ; 
and yet upon that one little act of kindness 
depended this damsel's whole subsequent 
history. If, when Pharaoh's daughter open- 
ed the little bulrush ark, the handsome babe 
that she found there had not wept just then, 
who knows whether she would have " had 



LITTLE EVENTS VIEWED AS PIVOTS. 133 

compassion on him," or adopted him as her 
own? It was casting " one longing, linger- 
ing look behind" when Sodom was in flames, 
that provoked the Lord to convert Lot's 
wife into a "pillar of salt," It was for 
speaking " unadvisedly with his lips " on one 
occasion, that Moses was debarred from en- 
tering the promised land. How unimport- 
ant it was, seemingly, whether the Levite 
mentioned in the nineteenth of Judges start- 
ed for home on the morning of the fifth day, 
as he had purposed, or in the afternoon — the 
time that he did start. And yet no less than 
65,000 men were slain in the civil war that 
hinged upon so trifling a circumstance as 
his delaying his departure till the afternoon. 
Had he left in the morning, as he at first 
purposed, Gibeah would not have been his 
halting place for the night, the crime com- 
mitted there that night would not have been 
perpetrated, the civil war would have been 
averted, and 65,000 lives would have been 
saved. When Ruth went forth to glean, 

'""her hat) was to light on " the barley field 
12* 



134 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

of a rich bachelor of Bethlehem, named' 
Boaz. It was with her a mere " hap" where 
or in whose field she gleaned, nor was it ap- 
parently of any importance where ; but the 
after history of the modest Moabitess took, 
its whole stamp and hue from that little, 
"hap" of hers. When Borne had been, 
taken, sacked and burned by the Gauls, and. 
w T hen in the darkness of night the citadel 
itself was on the point of being taken by 
surprise, the cackling of a few geese was the 
means of averting that catastrophe, and pre- 
serving Borne from utter extinction. The 
political revolution in France, of February,, 
1848, resulting in Louis Philippe's vacating 
the throne and becoming a refugee, was 
seemingly ascribable to one little and unwise 
act of his — forbidding the Parisians to hold 
"reform banquets," or assemble at the Hotel 
DeVille for political discussion. Had he^ 
been somewhat more yielding just then, it 
looked as though the whole train of events, 
would have been changed. 

Facts such as the foregoing show that lit- 



LITTLE EVENTS VIEWED AS PIVOTS. 135 

tie things sometimes acquire great magnitude 
by reason of the position they occupy. The 
key-stone of an arch, though small, and in 
itself no more important than its fellow 
stones, has by its position an importance 
much superior to theirs. It is even so, many 
times, with acts and incidents which are in 
themselves insignificant. The writer remem- 
bers a time when his preaching to an audi- 
ence composed of State prison convicts was 
brought about by so trivial an incident as 
his happening to mispronounce a man's 
name, the day before. And it is presumed 
there are few who cannot recall instances in 
their history, when some little act or inci- 
dent became a hinge on which something 
important depended. 

A further illustration of the magnitude of 
little things may be derived from various oc- 
currences which, though they are not here 
given as historical iacts, are not unfrequent- 
ly witnessed. They are by no means purely 
imaginary. 

Fibst. — On a certain occasion a young 



136 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

child, we will suppose, evinces, for the first 
time, a spirit of insubordination, an unwill- 
ingness to obey. Self-will has enthroned 
itself in the child's heart, and it persistently 
refuses to abdicate, or make any conces- 
sions. At this important crisis what does 
the mother do ? She concludes the child is 
quite too young to have the great work of 
:goverment begun, and regards this first out- 
break of a rebellious will as too small a 
thing to demand serious attention. So in- 
stead of grappling with that will and subdu- 
ing it now, she lets the little rebel conquer ; 
resolving, however, that as soon as he gets 
to be old enough, she will commence this 
dreaded governing work in good earnest. 
Alas, when that time arrives, she finds that 
the thread of gossamer, which she once 
could have easily snapped, has become a ca- 
ble, the tiny rivulet a resistless Amazon. 
And now mark the result. From the mo- 
ment of his first triumph that unsubdued 
child rules his parents and the entire house- 
hold with despotic sway ; during the whole 



LITTLE EVENTS VIEWED AS PIVOTS. 137 

period of his minority his will is supreme, 
and all the way through life a headstrong, 
self-willed and lawless spirit characterizes 
the man. If he ends not his career in the 
penitentiary, or even on the gallows, no 
thanks will be due to his over indulgent mo- 
ther. 

Second. — Here is a father who from day 
to day, when tossing off his accustomed 
glass of wine or brandy sling, allows his lit- 
tle son to have just the leavings of the glass. 
]Not for the world would this father have his 
darling boy become a drunkard ; but " surely 
a few drops can do the little fellow no 
harm." Thus reasons the mistaken father 
as, day after day, the lad is allowed just a 
taste of his father's beverage. But that 
mere sip, daily repeated, soon ripens into an 
appetite, a keen hankering, which as the 
toy advances into manhood becomes invin- 
cibly strong, and acquires a complete mas- 
tery over him. An inebriate's life, with all 
its sad accompaniments, is the life he leads ; 
and at an age when, were it not for the in- 



138 tajiks to arc bible-class. 

toxicating cup, he would be in his zenith, he 
tumbles into an unhonored grave, the unla- 
rnented victim of an appetite and a habit 
which a few harmless drops were the means 
of creating. 

Third. — A young lady whose eye and 
cheek and step all betoken health, and who* 
is expected to become a bride ere long, ac- 
companies her affianced, on a keen winter's 
night, to a ball or a masquerade. Her 
thoughtful mother urges her to go warmly 
clad, and to be doubly careful when she 
comes to exchange the heated assembly 
room for the cold outside air, and the home- 
ward ride. Somehow — through a little fool- 
ish pride perhaps — the mother's counsel 
goes unheeded, and the next day the daugh- 
ter finds that she has taken a severe cold. 
However, it is only a cold, nothing more ; and 
she has no doubt that a few days will suffice 
to remove this trifling ailment and place her 
back where she was. Vain expectation ! 
That cold becomes a permanent, incurable 
cough, consumption marks her for its victim,, 



UTTLE EVENTS VIEWED AS PIVOTS. 139 

and ere many months have elapsed Death 
claims our heroine for his bride. But for 
one little act of imprudence, she might have 
had a long and useful career ere the final 
summons came. 

One illustration more. A child's first act 
of deception goes unpunished, and even unre- 
buked. " It pains me," says the fond moth- 
er, " to have my child he, but then he is so 
young, and so cunning, and it is so natural 
for children to deceive ! Who could think 
of chastising a mere child for what is so nat- 
ural and so pardonable, too, as one little 
falsehood." Admirable reasoning, madam ; 
only I hope you will not marvel if, in all his 
after career, that boy is known as an un- 
trustworthy and distrusted man. And you, 
indulgent father, who neither chastised nor 
reprimanded your dishonest little son, nor 
commanded restitution when he brought 
home an egg from a neighbor's bam, or kept 
a found article whose owner he knew, or 
<3ared not to ascertain, or when he boasted 
how he had overreached another lad in an 



140 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

exchange of knives, must not deem it strange 
if tliis knavish boy, the unpunished purloin- 
er of only an egg, is by and by convicted of 
grand larceny, or even burglary, and made 
to take up his reluctant abode in a State 
prison. 

Having sufficiently illustrated the magni- 
tude of little events or little acts, when view- 
ed as pivots on which great results are 
hinged, I would now direct your attention to 
another branch of my theme — the import- 
ance of littles,j3r fragments, considered as 
the constituents of which large masses are com- 
posed. As all large things are made up of 
minute particles, it is obvious that if the 
masses themselves are valuable, the particles 
composing [them have their proportionate 
value. If, then, the things we value most 
sCre dealt out to us, not in masses, but in 
minute fragments, — and this is true of some 
of our choicest blessings — have we a right to 
despise or wantonly waste those fragments ? 
As those that appreciate their entire depend- 
ence, and the wisdom of the great Bestower 



DUTY OF FRAGMENT-GATHERING. 141 

in giving them but little at a time, does it 
not behoove men to " gather up the frag- 
ments * * * * that nothing be lost ?'* 
One motive by which the divine Giver would 
stimulate us to do this consists in the loss we 
sustain if we let the fragments goungathered, 
or the gain there is in habitually gathering 
them up. How great this loss or this gain 
really is, will be made more apparent by call- 
ing arithmetic to our aid, and attending to 
specific examples. 

Time, it will be confessed, is a gift of price- 
less value. Viewed as man's limited yet sole 
opportunity for doing whatever he deems 
important or desirable, its value can scarcely 
be estimated. The brief space that is allot- 
ted us here is but the merest fragment of our 
whole existence, a tiny rivulet that floats us; 
into a shoreless ocean. Brief, however, as 
this space is, it is freighted with awful re- 
sponsibilities and with momentous results. 
In view of these facts one would think that 
each mortal would conduct as though time 

was a precious thing, that he could not afford 
13 



142 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

to waste ; that lie would set a higli value on 
days and hours, as well as on months and 
years. And yet what do we see ? "We see 
great numbers who have no sense of time's 
preciousness, and who virtually throw away 
hours and days and weeks, and even years. 
They are not wholly idle, perhaps, but much 
of their time is occupied unprofitably. Many 
of their waking hours are taken up with 
things that are either frivolous and useless, 
or else injurious. Here is a man, for exam- 
ple, who deems it no harm to pass, on an av- 
erage, three hours a day at the billiard table, 
the backgammon board, or in some other 
absorbing game ; and here is another who 
daily spends as many hours at the village 
hotel, discussing politics and the news. Now 
let us see what well-read men — what literary 
giants, I had almost said — these two idlers 
might in thirty years get to be, if instead of 
daily passing those three hours in the way 
they do, they were to spend them in useful 
reading of some kind, at' the moderate rate 
oi twenty duodecimo pages per hour. Allow- 



DUTY OF FKAGMENT-GATHEEING. 143 : 

ing the years to consist of 365| days each, 
and deducting the 1565 Sabbaths, there will 
be left 9392 reading days ; and at the rate 
just specified, these men will have each read, 
in thirty years, 563,520 duodecimo pages, or 
1878 12mo volumes of 300 pages each. 
Had the 1565 Sabbaths not been deducted,, 
it would have swelled the number of duode- 
cimos read in those thirty years to 2191, 300 
pages in each. Or had these men chosen to 
devote three Sabbath hours, for thirty years, , 
to Bible reading, at a rate four times less 
rapid than the foregoing — namely, five 12mo 
pages per hour — a 12mo Bible of 979 pages 
would have been read through nearly twenty 
four times during the thirty years. Now a 
man who, instead of misspending three hours 
a day for thirty years, should in that time 
read with some thoroughness 1878 well 
selected books, averaging 300 12mo pages 
each, and the Bible twenty four times 
through besides, ought to be a tolerably wise 
man ; and in a literary point of view he cer- 
tainly would be. 



144 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

But suppose we allow, as perhaps we 
ought, that there are not very many who, on 
an average, waste as many as three hours a 
day. Do not great numbers idle away or 
mispend at least one hour daily ? I think I 
am safe in affirming that this is true of a 
great many. Admitting it to be so, let us 
see what a great gatherer of knowledge he 
would be who, beginning at the age of fifteen, 
and persevering in it for sixty years, — for if 
men would but heed the monitions of the 
Bible and live as they ought, large numbers 
would not only live to be seventy-five, but 
would be elastic and vigorous at that age — 
should daily employ in useful reading the 
hour which so many idle away. The sixty 
years would give him, without including the 
Sabbaths, 18,785 reading hours ; and 20 duo- 
decimo pages an hour would, in sixty years, 
carry him through 1252 volumes of the size 
already named, or 1461 such volumes if the 
Sabbaths be not deducted. Now there is 
not one of a thousand who, even if his life 
be long, masters as many books as that ; and 



DUTY OF FBAGHENT-GATHERING. 145 

yet great numbers might do it if they did 
but understand the art of husbanding their 
.fragments of time. It would doubtless 
amaze a youth of fifteen, if placed before a 
library of 1461 good-sized volumes, were he 
told that he was expected to read them all 
thoroughly through by the time he was 
seventy five. And to tell him that one hour 
a day would suffice for the accomplishment 
of this task, would only amaze him the more. 
Until figures had convinced him, he would 
^doubtless deem the thing impossible. Fig- 
ures would also convince him that, by daily 
Titilizing an hour which would otherwise be 
wasted, he will in sixty years virtually have 
added two and a half years of solid time to 
iis life — will have had two and a half years 
of useful activity instead of two and a half 
unimproved or misspent years. And in so 
very brief a life as ours, even such a gain as 
that is not to be despised. Ah, what would 
.not those time-wasters give whose entire pro- 
bation has been misimproved, if they could 

£>ut have back even two and a half years ! 
13* 



146 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

Let none suppose, in view of what has been 
said, that I deem it a duty to employ every 
minute portion of our waking hours in work, 
either manual or mental, and that I would 
banish all recreation, all unbending of an 
over-strained body and mind. Eecreation,, 
if innocent in kind, if resorted to as a restor- 
ative to qualify us for duty, and if not perse- 
vered in too long, and not allowed to become 
an end, is quite admissible and proper, and is 
far from belonging to the same category with 
wasted time. 

"We turn now to contemplate fragment-sav- 
ing and fragment-wasting as they stand re- 
lated to money, instead of time. Here, we 
will suppose, are two six-year-old lads, whose 
fathers are for ten years to allow them fifteen 
cents a week as spending money. One of 
the lads expends his entire allowance, or 
$7.80 every year, in the purchase of nuts, 
candies, chewing gum, et cetera. The father 
of the other lad tells him, at the outset, that 
if he chooses to lay up any portion of his 
weekly allowance and loan it, he will allow 



DUTY OF FBAGMEXT-GATHERIXG. 147' 

him seven per cent, per annum, compound, 
interest. The lad muses a moment, and 
wisely concludes that five cents a week will- 
buy all the little extras that he cannot well, 
do without ; and so he boxes up a dime a 
week, and at the close of each year loans his 
father $5.20. At the close of the tenth year 
his weekly allowance ceases, but that provi- 
dent lad, now a youth of sixteen, has a nice* 
little capital of $66.64 ready for a new invest- 
ment ; while the other lad has in ten years 
used up S78 in purchases that have indeed 
gratified the mouth, but proved injurious,- 
perhaps, in the main. Had the fragment- 
saver chosen to lay up and loan the whole oi 
his allowance, his capital at the end of the 
ten years would have been but four cents 
less than one hundred dollars. Suppose,, 
now, that this young economist has it in his 
power to loan, at the rate already named, 
his $66.64, and to keep it invested as long as 
he chooses. If kept invested at compound, 
interest for fifty years — that is, till he has 
reached the age of sixty six — that $66.64. 



148 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

would be worth. $1962.98 ; and one year more 
would bring it up to $2100.38 ! Quite a snug 
little sum for a man of sixty seven to have 
in reserve, as the result of laying aside, when 
a mere lad, only a dime a week for ten years. 
He may in other ways have accumulated so 
much as not to need this reserve fund, but it 
will at least be an admirable remembrancer 
of the value of fragments, and of the folly of 
undervaluing the littles. 

And now let us turn back to survey the 
course of the fragment-wasting lad, and to 
see what a sum he virtually throws away in 
the space of fifty years. By the time he is 
sixteen, he has become a proficient in that 
accomplishment, that elegant art that is so 
indispensable for any youth that would be 
thought a gentleman — the art of cigar-smok- 
ing ! Having a rich and indulgent father, his 
old allowance is now, for five years, enlarged 
to fifteen cents a day, or $54| a year ; and, 
as before, the whole amount is expended as 
fast as it is received. It scarcely suffices, in 
fact, to keep him in cigars. By the time he 



DUTY OF FRAGMENT-GATHERING. 149 

lis twenty one, his passion for cigars and 
•other little necessaries (?) is such, that thirty 
-ceiits a day are barely sufficient to keep him 
irom suffering ; and for the remaining forty- 
five years — his income being such as to ren- 
der this practicable — this, we will suppose, is 
liis average outlay per day for what he deems 
indispensables. Here, then, is an annual ex- 
penditure, for what some would pronounce 
worthless things, of $109.57 ; and arithmetic 
will prove that if this sum, so unwisely ex- 
pended, had been annually saved, and annu- 
ally loaned at seven per cent, compound in- 
terest, it would in forty-five years have 
amounted to $31,309.48 ! If to this we add 
ihe $314.85 that his annuity of $54.75 would 
Ihave amounted to in five years, had that also 
been saved and loaned, we have, in all, 
^31,624.33 that this man, I being the judge, 
lias practically thrown away in fifty years. 
And all this, be it observed, has the frag- 
ment-gatherer saved, besides the $1962.98 
:that his little capital of $66.64 amounted to 
in fifty years. Tracing, then, the two men 



150 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

from the age of sixteen up to that of sixty- 
six, the one may fairly be said to have saved 
$33,587.31, which the other has unwisely ex- 
pended and practically thrown away. 

I can hardly expect that what I have just 
been saying will be very acceptable to tobac- 
conists, or to that large class who lavish 
money on tobacco and cigars as freely as 
though they were among the very necessa- 
ries of life. To speak of money thus expend- 
ed as being ivasted, may perhaps call forth a 
contemptuous smile, andbe pronounced a mis- 
nomer, a gross misapplication of terms. Let. 
the growers, and manufacturers, and venders,, 
and smokers and chewers sneer, if they will, 
but I have nothing to retract. If tobacco's- 
patrons and victims could but get their eyes 
open and see what abject slaves they are, 
and if with one mighty strain they could 
once burst off their fetters, they would heart- 
ily indorse all that I have said, and even 
more. Worthless and wasted would then seem 
to them to be very tame words, when applied 
to tobacco and its purchase. 



DUTY OF FBAGMENT-GATHEKING. 151 

Computations showing what large amounts 
;are gained or lost by " gathering up the frag- 
ments " or neglecting to do it, could be mul- 
tiplied almost indefinitely. There is many 
-a man who wonders w T hy it is his lot to be 
poor, why it " was ordained " that he and 
his should have to wear such mean apparel, 
put up with such mean fare, and dwell in 
such a humble abode, when if he and his did 
b>ut understand and practice the art of turn- 
ing all the littles to a good account, a few 
years w^ould suffice to change the whole as- 
pect of their affairs. He is either so prodi- 
gal of time, that he daily idles away from one 
to two hours in which he might have remu- 
nerative work; or so wasteful of money, when 
he chances to have it, that he makes nothing 
of expending ten or fifteen cents a day on 
such necessary luxuries as rum and tobacco. 
If we suppose the dram-drinking smoker or 
chewer to waste, in time and money com- 
bined, enough to amount, on an average, to 
thirty cents for each of the 313 working clays 
of the year, our estimate will be quite with- 



152 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

in bounds. Now $93.90 annually saved by 
that man, would do much toward rendering 
his family comfortable, even if lie was obliged 
to use it all as lie went along. But suppose 
he is able to invest that sum at the close of 
each year, at seven per cent, compound in- 
terest, and to continue doing so for forty years.. 
In ten years his $93.90 will amount to* 
$1297.36 ; in twenty years, to $3849.46 ; in 
thirty years, to $8869.79 ; and at the end of 
the forty years there will be due him no less, 
than $18,745.71 ! Ah, if the tribe of idlers 
and smokers and guzzlers could but see, at 
one glance, the huge aggregates produced by 
their little every day wastes, so astounding 
would the sight be that, possibly, a reforma- 
tion might be the happy result. Arithmetic, 
it is said, tells no lies, and arithmetic makes 
it certain that many of those who are always 
poor, always complaining of the "hard times" 
and of their hard lot, might have a compe- 
tency and be forehanded, if they only appre- 
ciated the magnitude of littles, and duly gath- 
ered up the fragments. And if all that is, 



DUTY OF FRAGMENT-GATHERING. 153 

wasted by the more affluent class were saved 
and made to flow into the Lord's treasury, 
O how soon would the world be fully evan- 
gelized, and Christ's millennial reign begin ! 

All great enterprises are prosecuted and 
accomplished little by little. Huge and high- 
ly valuable volumes have in that way been 
composed and given to the world. It was by 
appropriating only his morning hours to 
writing — pausing daily at the hour of nine — 
that Albert Barnes composed most of the 
many volumes — a library in themselves al- 
most — for which the world owes him thanks. 
And it was by husbanding the fragments, by 
being, at his own command, roused at an 
early hour by his faithful valet de cJiambre, 
that the great naturalist, Buffon, was enabled 
to make so large and brilliant a contribution 
to the scientific literature of his day. 

The profitableness of " gathering up the 
fragments" is far from being the only reason 
for our obeying that injunction of the Sa- 
viour. The words alluded to evidently pre- 
sent a principle or truth that has a universal 
14 



154 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

application. That truth is, that it is wrong 
to waste even fragments, when they can be 
made to subserve a useful purpose. Gather 
them up, says the divine Master, " that noth- 
ing be lost" Did He not mean to teach us, 
by those words, that it is criminal to be 
wasteful even of little things? Nor is it dif- 
ficult to see why it is criminal. It is so 
because, in the first place, we are not the 
owners of what we waste ; and surely it is 
wrong to waste even a little of that which is 
the property of another. In human parlance, 
it is true, we are owners. This piece of 
property is yours, and this is mine, and this 
is still another man's ; but in a higher sense 
we are simply the Lord's tenants, and we 
orvn absolutely nothing. Our time, talents, 
knowledge, and property — what are they but 
loans that the divine Landlord intrusts us 
with, saying as He does it, " Occupy till I 
come ?" If there is any one that has a right 
to be wasteful, it is the Maker and Owner of 
all things, and Him alone. But God, though 
infinitely rich, wastes nothing. And if He 



DUTY OF FRAGMENT-GATHERING. 155 

does not, neither should we. Again : Prodi- 
gality in little things is the parent of wasteful- 
ness on a large scale. He who can wantonly 
throw away, as things of no value, fragments 
of time or money, can hardly be expected to 
prize, or profitably employ, large amounts of 
time and money. The waster of dimes will, 
if he has them to waste, probably prove the 
waster of hundreds, or even thousands of 
dollars ; and he that can thoughtlessly and 
without compunction idle away hours and 
days, is the man who will probably waste or 
misspend whole years, or even life itself. 
Must it not displease Him who deals time 
out to us in moments, and money in dimes 
and half dimes, to see us evince, by our 
wastefulness, that we despise or undervalue 
such little gifts ? What if a mendicant, on 
whom we had bestowed a few copper coins, 
should with a contemptuous toss of the head 
throw the coins away, as being quite too small 
a gift for him to value, or thankfully use ? 
Were that mendicant to ask alms of us the 
second time, our indignant reply would be, 



156 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

" Since you are too proud to be grateful . for 
small gifts, and such a waster as to throw 
away pennies, ask no further aid of us, for 
you will ask in vain." Ah, if God should 
deal with the squanderers of His gifts as we 
would deal with that thankless and wasteful 
mendicant, how hopeless would their condi- 
tion be. It is well for all squanderers that 
retribution treads not on the very heels of 
transgression, and that though His gifts are 
undervalued and abused, the great Donor 
grows not weary of bestowing. But a Reck- 
oning Day is drawing nigh when ungathered 
fragments, and misspent hours, and wasted 
opportunities will be called up as accusing 
witnesses. In that solemn Day let it not be 
found that we, dear readers, have wasted not 
only many littles, but the great whole — wast- 
ed this probationary fragment of our being 
on which is pivoted our endless destiny! 



LESSER BENEFITS OE BIELE STUDY. 157 



TALK VI 



The lesser benefits cf Bible study ; or, The 
Bible a promoter of taste, intellectual 
vigor, sound view's, success in business, and 
man's temporal well-being in general. 

In the fact that the utility of the Bible is 
not restricted to the things of a future life, 
is found one proof of the wisdom and benev- 
olence of God. While it is the Bible's chief 
aim to acquaint man with God's mode of 
Tescuing him from perdition, and while this 
is the grand benefit it confers, it is by no 
means the only one. The Book that is ad- 
dressed to man mainly as an heir of heaven 
or hell, is found to be admirably adapted to 
promote his good as a mere tenant of earth ; 
and the incidental benefits resulting from the 
study of this Book are neither few nor small. 
To point out some of these secondary bene- 
fits, and to show the Bible's fitness and ten- 
14* 



158 TALES TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

dency to advance man's earthly prosperity, 
will be the object of the ensuing essay, or 
Talk. 

We will first inquire whether the Bible, as 
a literary production, is suited to correct a 
vitiated literary taste, and to keep young 
writers from indulging in a turgid, flowery 
and pointless style. In my judgment it is. 
The style of our English Bible, it is true, is 
not in all respects a model for composers. 
Judged by the rhetorician's rules it has many 
redundancies. In its narrations, for instance, 
it has what modern taste would pronounce a 
superabundance of words. And yet what 
a charming simplicity and artlessness per- 
vades all the Biblical narratives. The fault- 
hunting critic, perhaps, may deem them ver- 
bose, or even inelegant, but are they not al- 
ways entertaining, always instructive ? Has 
modern authorship, with all its arts of em- 
bellishment, presented us with any unreal 
tales which, in genuine pathos, beauty, or 
power to touch the heart, are superior to the 
Bible's narratives of fact ? If there are those 



LESSER BENEFITS OF BIBLE STUDY. 159 

who think it has, or those to whom the sto- 
ries of the Bible are insipid, they will pardon 
me for thinking that their taste needs cor- 
recting. The taste that can see nothing to 
admire in the story of the wife-seeking jour- 
ney taken by Abraham's servant, or in the 
history of Joseph and Moses, of Hainan and 
Mordecai, of Esther and Ruth, and scores of 
others that might be named, must surely be 
a taste that needs rectifying. And it is one 
of the incidental benefits of Bible study, that 
it tends, and measurably serves, to create a 
sound and refined literary taste. The Bi- 
ble's style would in some respects be an ex- 
cellent pattern. That Book never wraps up 
a puerile thought in so many and such unus- 
ual words that we are puzzled to see what it 
is aiming at, nor does it ever divert our at- 
tention from the thought it aims to impress 
by the showy dress in which it clothes that 
thought. If it be sometimes verbose, it is at 
other times exceedingly direct, terse and la- 
conic. In fnany of Solomon's Proverbs, as 
also in some other portions of Scripture, 



160 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

great truths are presented in a highly con- 
densed form, [and the passages containing 
them become eminently suggestive. It would 
require a number of sentences to fully devel- 
op the thought^that is expressed in this one 
brief sentence of Paul's : " I was alive with- 
out the law, once, but when the command- 
ment came sin revived, and I died." So 
when Jacob says, " Judah is a lion's whelp," 
and when Solomon affirms that " it is the 
glory of God to conceal a thing," they ex- 
press, with wonderful conciseness, ideas that 
are very suggestive, and capable of large ex- 
pansion. Be it observed, moreover, that He 
who has endowed man with a sense of the 
euphonious, the beautiful and the grand, 
has in the Bible, as in Nature's volume, made 
provision for the gratification of that sense. 
That the Scriptures abound in passages 
which possess much poetic beauty, and in 
others that are highly sublime, readers with 
a cultivated taste need not be told. It would 
be easy to fill page after page with speci- 
mens ; but I will not so undervalue the dis- 



LESSER BENEFITS OF BIBLE STUDY. 161 

<3ernraent of niy readers as to think that 
specimens are needed. I trust they appre- 
ciate the literary excellences of the Bible, 
and its adaptedness to elevate and refine the 
taste. Nor have they failed to notice, I pre- 
sume, how well adapted the Bible is to man's 
inborn love of variety, and to that variety of 
tastes that is found to prevail. Those whose 
special relish is for reasoning processes that 
demand mental toil, or for truth in its more 
didactic forms, have their taste gratified ; 
those who prefer truth when served up in 
Tacy and sententious maxims, have theirs ; 
the lovers of the tender and the heroic, of 
lofty thought and poetic sweetness, have 
theirs; while those that can be charmed, or 
thrilled, or solemnized by a true tale told with 
unadorned simplicity, have theirs. The Bible 
lias something suited to almost every variety 
of taste, unless it be the taste of those who 
prefer fiction to fact, or who are better pleas- 
ed with trifles arrayed in a captivating garb, 
than with the great and instructive truths of 
revelation. 

Another of the secondarv benefits result- 



162 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

ing from Bible study is that it promotes in- 
tellectual strength. Close Bible students sel- 
dom fail of becoming deep and vigorous 
thinkers. One reason why this is so, is that 
the Scriptures direct men's thoughts to 
things that are vast and solemn and momen- 
tous ; and such things, if often presented and 
often pondered, tend to enlarge the mind's 
capacity and strength, And then there are 
parts of the Bible which demand close appli- 
cation in order to comprehend their full 
meaning, and the reader's mind is invigorat- 
ed by the exercise it has to submit to. 
There are argumentative processes in some 
of Paul's Epistles which no reader can mas- 
ter without study and labor ; and some other 
portions of vScripture must be read with 
close attention to be fully understood.. 
Readers who are averse to all mental exer- 
tion may deem this a fault, but it should be 
regarded as an excellence. Large parts of 
the Bible are easy of comprehension, and 
the way of salvation is made so plain that a 
child need not mistake it ; and yet, as a whole, 
the Bible is a book that demands application 



LESSEE BENEFITS OE BIBLE STUDY. 163 

:and careful study. Is this a blemish ? Let 
those answer who, on searching the Scrip- 
tures with frequency and care, have wonder- 
ed, perhaps, at finding what strong thinkers 
they were fast becoming. A well studied 
Bible will, it is belieyed, as effectually sharp- 
en the intellect as Euclid's Elements, or as 
Butler's Analogy. And besides making one 
a vigorous, it will make him a sound, well 
balanced thinker. No book is better suited 
to promote sound thinking, or just and com- 
prehensive views of men and things. As 
men stationed on a mountain's top can see 
further, and know more about the earth's 
scenery and magnitude than if they had 
stayed at the mountain's base, so the loftier 
stand-point occupied by the sacred penmen 
as compared with uninspired writers, has 
afforded them a wider landscape to survey, 
a larger field of vision ; hence they have 
presented us a more accurate map or deline- 
ation of spiritual things, and of life as it 
stands related to an endless future, than un- 
inspired men could possibly have presented. 



164 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

The Bible is a moral telescope, as it were, 
which enables us to discern objects that are 
at once immense and far off ; and it is also 
the best of instruments for assisting us to see, 
in their true proportions, — their littleness in. 
one sense, and their magnitude in another — 
life's numberless minutiae. If you would 
form correct estimates of all that you see 
and hear, would know how to unravel myste- 
ries, or would have views that are expanded, 
discriminating and true, be in the habit of 
surveying things through the glass of the 
Bible. Tou will find it an admirable detect- 
er of mistakes, a powerful clarifier of the 
mental and moral vision. 

Let us next inquire whether it is the ten- 
dency of the Bible to promote business pros- 
perity, or to render its readers wise planners 
and successful workers and managers. 
Would a young man, just starting in life and 
anxious to have a successful business career, 
find the Bible the best of counselors, the 
very adviser he needs ? He assuredly would. 
Not that this divine Book affords instruction 



LESSEE BENEFITS. OF BIBLE STUDY. 165 

in the arts and sciences, or in respect to soils, 
fertilizers, rotation of crops, the adaptation 
of different soils to different products, and 
the like ; or that it gives specific directions: 
how to excel in any of life's numerous em- 
ployments. But while it is silent on such 
points as these, it contains principles and 
instructions which, if duly heeded, would be 
almost sure to render one prosperous in his 
w r orldly affairs. Let us glance at some of 
these principles, and see how broad and sure 
a foundation the Bible lays for prosperity in 
business, and in all one's secular concerns. 

The Scriptures, in the first place, discoun- 
tenance indolence, and make labor of some 
hind both a duty and an honor. Neither idle- 
ness nor improvidence, nor the doctrine of a 
community of property, derive any support 
from the divine oracles. A false pride has 
caused some persons to regard work — espe- 
cially manual labor — as undignified and de- 
grading ; but the Bible countenances no 
such idea. When Paul exhorts the Thessa- 

Ionian idlers " that with quietness they work, 
15 



166 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

and eat their own bread" and when lie directs 
" that if any would not work, neither should 
he eat," he virtually pronounces idleness a 
vice, and labor a Christian duty. His lan- 
guage implies that every one should have a 
vocation, in the patient prosecution of which 
he may provide for himself and those depend- 
ent on him. Not to eat one's own bread, or 
that which his own toil procures, Paul evi- 
dently regarded as wrong and disreputable. 
And that there is no necessary antagonism 
between energy in business and ardent piety, 
is evinced by Paul's exhortation, " Not sloth- 
ful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the 
Lord." In all that Solomon has so pungent- 
ly said respecting u the slothful man" it is 
implied that one's business should be prose- 
cuted with persevering industry, and that ob- 
stacles, whether real or imaginary, must not 
be allowed to intimidate him. One of the 
raciest of the wise man's maxims is that in 
which the lazy man is made to say, " There 
is a Hon without, I shall be slain in the 
streets !" To the youth that is setting out 



LESSER BENEFITS OF BIBLE STUDY. 167 

in life that maxim is full of meaning, full of 
instruction. It tells liini tliat if lie would 
succeed in business, or " make his mark " 
in the world, he must allow no imaginary 
lions to terrify him, or keep him inactive ; 
nor must he shrink from encountering real 
ones. He must maintain a courage and res- 
olution that is indomitable, and if he meets 
with lions he must slay them, and not be slain 
by them. The Bible makes stability, no less 
than diligence, an element of success. To 
him that is of a wavering, inconstant mind, 
that no sooner gets established in one em- 
ployment than he forsakes it for another, the 
Bible addresses this warning : " Unstable as 
water, thou shalt not excel." And what 
James says of religious wavering and its con- 
sequences, is applicable to one's secular as 
well as spiritual interests. Another point 
on which the Bible gives the business man a 
much needed warning, is that of becoming re- 
sponsible for another persons debts. Fortunes 
have been lost, and many families reduced 
to penury and suffering, simply because such 



168 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

monitions as the following have gone unheed- 
ed : " Be not thon one of them that strike 
hands, or of them that are sureties for 
debts." " He that is surety for a stranger 
shall smart for it, and he that Jiateth surety- 
ship is sure." Strange, that in spite of these 
inspired cautions, men should persist in that 
which has made thousands to smart ! Veri- 
ly Solomon was no slanderer when he pro- 
nounced him that " striketh hands and be- 
€ometh surety," " a man void of understand- 
ing." 

While the Scriptures encourage business 
energy and perseverance, they dissuade men 
from being too eager for gain, too much en- 
gTossed with worldly cares and acquisitions. 
To him who is in danger of idolizing money, 
or who craves wealth intensely, the Bible 
says, " The love of money is the root of all 
evil," and " They that vritt be rich " — that is, 
who set their hearts on becoming rich — 
'" fall into temptation and a snare, and into 
many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown 
men in destruction and perdition." To him 



LESSER :BENEEITS OF BIBLE STUDY. 169 

who is not content with the slow gains of 
patient and protracted industry, or with 
gradually growing rich, but who would reach 
the goal by some short or royal road, this 
God-given counselor says, " He that maketh 
haste to be rich shall not be innocent." " He 
that hasteth to be rich * * * consider- 
eth not that poverty shall come upon him." 
To him who, in lieu of acquiring property in 
some useful business long persisted in, 
chooses to acquire it by stock-gambling, or 
.some other form of speculation, the Guide 
;says, "Wealth gotten by vanity (specula- 
tion ?) shall be diminished, but he that gath- 
ereth by labor shall increase." It was obvi- 
ously God's design that, in acquiring prop- 
erty, every one should render a fair equiva- 
lent for what he gains, and that some kind 
of useful labor, physical or mental, should be 
that equivalent. Does he who maintains 
himself or amasses wealth by what is termed 
speculation, earn his property by honest and 
useful industry? Does he render a just 

equivalent for what he acquires ? Let those 
15* 



170 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

who are tempted to use any unjust or disrep- 
utable methods of gaining property treasure 
up these words : " He that getteth riches,. 
and not by right, shall leave them in the 
midst of his days, and at his end shall be a 
fool r To be found and pronounced a fool 
at one's end, how tremendous^ how irrepara- 
ble an evil ! Ye that would escape it, see y 
among other things, that the property you 
acquire is rightfully acquired. For " treas- 
ures of wickedness " — treasures gained by 
improper means — will " profit nothing " in 
the end ; and " better is a little, witk 
righteousness, than great revenues without 
right." 

To render one highly prosperous in all his 
secular interests one thing more is requisite - 
and here again the Bible will be found a 
wise and faithful adviser. Hoiv to use prop- 
erty when obtained, how to expend money ju- 
diciously, is as essential to one's prosperity 
as it is that his property be honestly acquir- 
ed. This division of my theme has two 
subdivisions — a due regard to economy in 



LESSER BENEFITS OF BIBLE STUDY. 171 

one's expenditures and style of living, and 
■using property as a means of doing good. On 
the first of these points I shall say but little ;, 
having in the preceding Essay advanced 
thoughts and reasonings that have a direct 
bearing on the subject of economy. It is. 
obvious enough that frugality is an essen- 
tial element of success in life, and that nu- 
merous families are either indigent, or are 
never forehanded, simply because they are 
miserable economists. The Bible proffers 
them the counsel they need when it says, 
" Gather up the fragments * * * that 
nothing be lost ;" but that injunction goes un- 
noticed, or the lesson it teaches is one they 
are unable or unwilling to learn. Solomon 
would gladly keep them from being wasters 
by his racy saying, " He that is slothful in 
his work is brother to him that is a great 
waster." Ah, how true it is that the waster, 
whether of time or money, is own brother 
to the idler ! But can you change the char- 
acter of either of these brothers by telling; 
them how closely related they are ? 



172 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

The connection between financial prosperi- 
ty and economy, or prudence in one's use of 
property, is sufficiently obvious; but pray 
what has the using of money for charitable 
purposes to do with one's business prosper- 
ity? Will not all the donations that one 
makes subtract just so much from what he 
is worth, and deserve to be classed as 
wasted disbursements ? The mere world- 
ling's reply to this would doubtless be an 
affirmative one. To represent benevolent giv- 
ing as one means of increase would to him, 
probably, appear incredible. But what say 
*'the oracles of God?" "Honor the Lord 
with thy substance, and with the first fruits 
• of all thine increase : so shall thy barns be 
filled with plenty, and thy presses shall 
burst out with new wine." To assist the 
needy, and to aid in the support and propa- 
gation of Bible religion in the world, is to 
"honor the Lord with one's substance ;" and 
there is a promise, you see, that he who thus 
ionors the Lord shall have prosperity. To 
ihe very end of time that promise will be 



LESSEE BENEMTS OF BIBLE STUDY. 173 

fulfilled to those that heed the command. 
And so will these others : " Give, and it shall 
be given unto you ;" " He that water eth 
shall be watered also himself ;" " He that 
hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the 
Lord, and that w T hich he hath given will He 
pay him again;" and "He which soweth 
bountifully shall reap also bountifully." 
Uest assured, young man, that liberal giving 
stands connected with a successful career as 
a business man, and if you are wise, you will 
begin to bestotv so soon as you begin to ac- 
quire. And if the diligent prosecution of 
some useful calling shall ultimately put you 
in possession of a competency, or even of 
wealth, see that your wealth becomes not a 
stagnant, pestilential pond. If you would 
run no risk of drowning, cut channels of be- 
nevolence in which to have it flow out, and 
make it a refreshing, perennial stream, 
whose vivifying influence is seen wherever 
it flows. In the midst of your prosperity 
forget not these inspired words : " Beware 
* * * lest when thou hast eaten and art 



174 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

full * *■ * and all that thou hast is mul- 
tiplied, then thine heart be lifted up * * * and 
thou say in thine heart, My power, and the 
might of mine hand hath gotten me this 
wealth. But thou shalt remember the Lord 
thy God, for it is He that giveth thee power 
to get wealth." And since thy "power ta 
get wealth " was from God, ask yourself, my 
affluent friend, whether wealth was not be- 
stowed on you for this reason, among others, 
that you might "cause the widow's heart to 
sing for joy," and the indigent and fatherless 
to bless you for your frequent and timely ben- 
efactions ; that you might aid the great 
cause of Missions, and other benevolent en- 
terprises, and might know, experimentally, 
that it is indeed " more blessed to give than 
to receive." The Bible's charge to the rich 
is, " that they do good, that they be rich in 
good works, ready to distribute, willing to 
communicate." It is by "honoring the 
Lord " and doing good with their property, 
or, as the Saviour expresses it, by " making 
to themselves friends of the mammon of im~ 



LESSEE BENEFITS OP BIBLE STUDY. 175 

righteousness," that the rich "lay up in 
store for themselves a good foundation 
against the time to come" Benevolent giving 
is the divinely appointed safety valve for ena- 
bling the rich to escape the corrupting ten- 
dency of worldly prosperity ; and well would 
it be if not only the affluent, but all acqui- 
rers of property, would make trial of its 
profitableness. If you that are just enter- 
ing on life's crowded arena will with pure 
motives make a faithful use of the valve, and 
will observe the other Biblical prescriptions 
for prospering that I have been describing, 
I venture to predict that you will prosper in 
#11 your temporal interests, and be heirs " to 
an inheritance * * * that fadeth not 
away." 

We are convinced, I trust, that the Bible 
is well suited to promote a correct taste, in- 
tellectual vigor, sound thinking, and business 
prosperity. Have we exhausted the Bible's 
utility as a book for this life ? Has it no oth- 
er adaptations to man's earthly wants and 
temporal well being ? Would it not prove a 



176 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

wise counselor for the young in relation to 
such matters as the choice of friends, mat- 
rimony, and even health and longevity? 
Let us search and see. 

On the subject of earthly friendships and. 
intimacies the Bible has some valuable sug- 
gestions. When at one time it says, " Make 
no friendship with an angry man, and with 
a furious man thou shalt not go, lest thou 
learn his ways" and at another, " He that 
walketh with wise men shall be wise," the 
young are taught that, by degrees, they will 
probably become assimilated, in character 
and habits, to their chosen and intimate as- 
sociates, and hence that they should be inti- 
mate with none but the wise and the good. 
To " walk with wise men " is the same as to 
maintain an intimate companionship with 
the wise ; and he that does this, says Solo- 
mon, " shall be wise" A careful perusal of 
the Bible would teach the inexperienced that 
there is an unreliable and worthless kind of 
friendship, a kind that is based on the self- 
ish principle — Be my friend, and I ivill be 



LESSER BENEFITS OF BIBLE STUDY. 177 

yours. It would teacli tliem that a spurious, 
friend will flatter you when his interest re- 
quires it, or when you are prosperous, but 
will forsake you in the hour of adversity ;: 
while a true friend, though he will admonish 
or reprove you if occasion requires, will 
cleave fast to you when you are deserted by 
others. "Faithful are the icounds of a 
friend," observes the wise Solomon; which 
is equivalent to saying that a true friend may 
sometimes find it necessary to wound you, 
to point out some error or blemish of yours, 
having for his sole motive a desire to pro- 
mote your best good. "A friend," says 
Solomon in another place, "loveth at all 
times ;" but this is not true of all that pass 
for friends in this selfish world of ours. 
Very many have found, to their sorrow, that 
"the kisses of an enemy" — or, what is the 
same thing, of a false friend — " are deceit- 
ful." It would be a blessing of no small 
magnitude if, in forming their intimacies, all 
young persons were endowed with such dis- 
cernment, or could be so guided by others, 
16 



178 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

as to have no companions that are corrupt- 
ers, no associates whose influence is pes- 
tilential. 

If for those who are contemplating mar- 
riage the Bible has no specific advice or in- 
struction, it certainly has some very signifi- 
cant hints. If virtually counsels men to 
marry by saying, " It is not good that the 
man should be alone," and " whoso findeth 
a wife " — meaning, of course, a good wife — 
"findeth a good thing." It tells men, too, 
that " a prudent wife is from the Lord." 
Combining this last passage with the other 
two, we learn that if the partners are of the 
right stamp marriage is a blessing, and that 
if one would be kept from making an un- 
wise choice, it would be well to advise ivith 
the Lord respecting the matter. For if " a 
prudent wife" or husband "is from the 
Lord," must it not be wise to consult the Lord 
in the matter ? In the Book of Proverbs we 
are presented with some admirable hints re- 
specting connubial life, hints which the mar- 
xied and .unmarried would find it profitable 



LESSER BENEFITS OF BIBLE STUDY. 179 

to ponder. They are there told, for exam- 
ple, that one of the four things which the 
earth " can not bear," is " an odious woman 
when she is married !" A sort of sly hint 
this, peculiar to Solomon, that some women 
make bad wives, and that men who are in 
search of a companion need to be a little 
circumspect ! Another of Solomon's caustic 
hints to wife seekers and to wives is this : 
" The contentions of a wife are a continual 
dropping ;" yes, "a continual dropping in a 
very rainy day /" It is quite possible that 
in the two passages just quoted, Solomon 
spoke from mournful experience, and that 
among all his " outlandish " wives one or 
more was a scold, a Mrs. Caudle, " a contin- 
ual dropping !" Of the truly good wife it is 
said, "She openeth her mouth with wisdom,, 
and in her tongue is the lata of kindness." In 
other words, when she talks she talks wisely, 
and she is no scold. Churlish, un sympathiz- 
ing, tyrannical husbands are as really con- 
demned in the Scriptures as are bad wives.. 
" Husbands," says Paul, "love your wives, 



180 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

and be not bitter against them" " So ought 
men to love their wives as their own bodies." 
In the persons of Nabal and Abigail we have 
— a thing by no means uncommon in our 
day — an intelligent and lovely woman bound 
in wedlock to a brutish and miserly churl; 
and in what estimation God held the latter 
is shown by the sequel of their conjugal his- 
tory. This " son of Belial " that one could 
not speak to without being insulted, was 
smitten down, and the discreet Abigail soon 
after became the wife of Israel's future king. 
Were all husbands and wives to be, in that 
relation, what the Scriptures commend and 
enjoin, how much richer a blessing would 
marriage prove, and how largely would the 
sum of domestic happiness be thereby aug- 
mented. 

In respect to health and longevity it is not 
pretended that the Bible affords any special 
light or information. It is certain, however, 
that if men's lives were from early childhood 
xegulated by the Bible's teachings, the most 
of them would have firmer health, and would 



LESSER BENEFITS OF BIBLE STUDY. 181 

attain to a greater age. And the reason is 
obvious. Make the Bible the rule of life 
from childhood up, and all those evil pas- 
sions and practices which, as the world now 
goes, are the means of inducing premature 
decay and death, would cease to have sway. 
Hioting and drunkenness, debauchery and 
voluptuous living, vice of every description, 
and all carking, corroding passions would 
prevail no longer, or would exert far less con- 
trol than now. And how obvious it is that 
so great a change as this would be attended 
with a marked improvement in respect to 
iealth and long life. In the Scriptures there 
is a promise of long life to the pious and 
obedient. "When Solomon says, " My son, 
iorget not my law, but let thine heart keep 
my commandments ; for length of days and 
long life and peace shall they add to thee," 
le is addressing the young in the Lord's 
name, and promising them a protracted life 
as one fruit of obedience to God. " With 
long life will I satisfy him," is one of the 

promises that God makes, in the ninety-first 
16* 



182 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

Psalm, to him that "sets his lore upon ' : ' 
his Maker. And one thing that Isaiah says; 
shall distinguish a certain period, eminent 
for holiness and prosperity, is this : " They 
shall not build, and another inhabit ; they 
shall not plant, and another eat : for as the 
days of a tree are the days of My people, and 
Mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their 
hands." These passages are not to be un- 
derstood as promising that every pious per- 
son shall live to be old, but only that man- 
kind, as a tchole, shall in the Millennium reach 
a greater age than at present. Nor in this 
increased longevity of men will there be any 
thing miraculous. As we have seen, it will 
be the legitimate result of an improvement 
in men's character and habits, a better ob- 
servance of the principles and teachings of 
God's Book. 

We will just glance, in the last place, at 
some of those moral traits which, when pos- 
sessed, betoken prosperity and seldom fail 
of insuring it, and see whether the Bible is 
not just the Book that is needed to impress 



LESSEE BENEFITS OF BIBLE STUDY. 183 

on the young the desirableness, yea the ne- 
cessity of possessing those traits, if they 
would have abundant success. 

Foremost among the traits of character 
which command admiration and betoken 
prosperity in life, stands filial reverence and 
subordination. A uniformly respectful treat- 
ment of one's parents and a cheerful subjec- 
tion to parental authority are qualities which 
we all love and laud ; and a special blessing 
usually attends those who in childhood and 
youth exhibit these qualities. Now at what 
pains has God been to teach the young this 
important truth. He has not only given it 
a place in the Decalogue, with a special 
promise annexed, but it is pressed on their 
attention in many other parts of Scripture. 
It is worthy of notice that Solomon, in his 
Proverbs, after an exordium of six verses, and 
after naming "the fear of the Lord" as the 
highest of all attainments, in the very next 
verse exhorts the young to filial dutifulness. 
The position that this exhortation occupies — 
the forefront of a Book designed especially 



184 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

for the young — seems to indicate that, in 
Solomon's view, dutifulness to parents is a 
cardinal virtue in any youth, and a sure pre- 
cursor of a prosperous life. And when Sol- 
omon elsewhere says, " My son, keep thy 
father's commandment and forsake not the 
law of thy mother, bind them continually 
upon thine heart and tie them about thy 
neck," what eloquent, what animating words 
axe these that follow : " When thou goest it 
shall lead thee, when thou sleepest it shall 
keep thee, and when thou awakest it shall 
talk with thee !" It was as though he had 
said, Tou that are young, cherish a reverent 
regard for parental instruction and precepts, 
and that filial spirit evinced by you shall 
guide you wisely amid the various activities 
of life, be a guardian in your defenceless 
hours, and company for you in your hours 
of wakefulness and work. Addressing those 
that have aged parents Solomon says, " Des- 
pise not thy mother ivhen she is old ;" an in- 
junction that all men would do well to heed. 
What son or daughter would willingly incur 



LESSER BENEFITS OE BIBLE STUDY. 185 

so fearful a malediction as this : " Cursed be 
he that setteth light by his father or his moth- 
er !" O if the command, " Honor thy father 
and thy mother " were fully and universally 
obeyed, how would it augment the sum of 
human happiness and prosperity ! 

Closely allied to the virtue of filial dutiful- 
ness is that of teachableness — a willingness to 
be advised, instructed, admonished, or, when 
necessary, even rebuked. Such a spirit, if 
cultivated by the young, would prove a great 
promoter of prosperity. " Give instruction 
io a wise man," says Solomon, " and he ivill 
he yet wiser" On the other hand " poverty 
and shame shall be to him that refuseth in- 
struction" Of the " scorner " it is said, he 
" loveth not one that reproveth him, neither 
will he go unto the wise." There are those 
who are too self-sufficient to be counseled ; 
much more, to be reproved, or told their de- 
fects. Of such persons the Scriptures say, 
xi Seest thou a man ivise in his oivn conceit? 
There is more hope of a fool than of him." 

A well-governed temper and tongue is an- 



186 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

other of the virtues which are needed to 
render one's career in life a success and a 
blessing. To many a man and many a 
woman has an irascible temper and an un- 
bridled tongue proved a fearful curse. Es- 
trangements and quarrels without number, 
and even wars have owed their origin to a 
passionate spirit, or to a rash, unguarded use 
of words. Who has not known of serious 
and even fatal affrays that were traceable to 
an unbridled temper and tongue ? A mur- 
derer whose execution I once witnessed, in 
•confessing his crime ascribed its commission, 
I was told, to the fact that in his yputh he 
had never learned to control his fiery temper. 
And I once knew a young man who, in a 
wrathful dispute with a fellow mower, came 
to his death suddenly by a stroke from his 
adversary's scythe. That " death and life 
are in the power of the tongue," as the Bible 
affirms, one of these disputants found to be 
literally true. The Bible would have taught 
these wranglers that " he that is slow to an- 
ger is better than the mighty, and he that 



LESSER BENEFITS OF BIBLE STUDY. 187 

ruletli his spirit than lie that taketli a city ;" 
and had that and other kindred maxims been 
treasured up by them when children, or had 
they but learned the art of self-control, the 
affray and its awful result might never have 
taken place. To keep one's spirit in proper 
subjection habitually and to habitually bridle 
one's tongue, is a difficult but very desirable 
attainment ; and no book will so impress us 
with its importance, or so effectually aid us 
in the work of self-government, as the in- 
spired volume. The inexperienced youth 
is there taught that " whoso Tceepeth his 
mouth and his tongue ieepeth Ms soul from 
troubles ;" that if one " ivill love life and see 
good days," he should " refrain his tongue 
from evil ;" and that " if any man * * seem 
to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue 
* * * this man's religion is vain." He 
will there find the man " that hath no rule 
over his own spirit " compared to a " city 
that is broken down and without walls," and 
an untamed tongue pronounced " an unruly 
-evil, full of deadly poison," a "world of ini- 



188 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

quity," a tiling that " is set on fire of hell !'* 
How eminently wise it would be if all men 
would adopt the Psalmist's resolves and say, 
" I will keep my mouth with a bridle while 
the wicked is before me ;" "I am purposed 
that my mouth shall not transgress." 

Let me name one other trait of character 
that is an important element of success in life 
— courteousness. A demeanor that is kind, 
sympathizing and affable, will obviously ren- 
der one more acceptable and likely to prosper 
than would an opposite deportment. It is a 
blemish in the character of some men — yes, 
and even of some good men — that they are 
sadly wanting in courteousness and urbanity. 
They are upright, truthful, and even benevo- 
lent, it may be, but their manner and address 
are chilling and repulsive. One would think 
they regarded affability as a sin, and blunt- 
ness as a virtue. In their strong aversion 
to the sycophancy of Absalom, they come 
not far short of falling into the churlishness 
of Nabal. And it is not difficult to see that 
such persons, however good at heart, will 



LESSER BENEFITS OF BIBLE STUDY. 189 

commonly be less esteemed, less useful and 
prosperous than those who abound in sym- 
pathy, and whose bearing is highly courte- 
ous and obliging. Here the question pre- 
sents itself, Would one in searching the 
Scriptures find any thing to depreciate or 
condemn courtesy and kindness, any thing to 
forbid his being affable and gentlemanly in 
his manners ? Does the Bible put its veto 
on politeness, and offer incivility any com- 
mendation or premium ? Quite the reverse* 
One of its injunctions is, "Be pitiful, be cour- 
teous." It instructs us to " be kindly affec- 
tioned one to another," to " condescend to 
men of low estate," and to "rejoice with 
them that do rejoice, and weep with them 
that weep." That is, be sympathetic ; enter 
into the joys and griefs of your fellow beings, 
and make their case your own. One feature 
of that charity " which is the bond of per- 
fectness," is that it " is hind/' and " Be ye 
kind one to another, tender hearted" is an 
apostolic exhortation. Had Behoboam, 

when the people were assembled at Shechem 
17 



190 TALKS TO I£Y BIBLE-CLASS. 

to make Mm king, returned them a courte- 
ous reply instead of the insulting one that he 
did, he might have reigned over all Israel, 
and not merely over two tribes. And had 
Nabal responded courteously to David's 
messengers, and acted the gentleman instead 
of the churl and the niggard, he might have 
lived on and prospered. The Bible offers 
no sanction to insincerity, or a counterfeit 
complaisance ; but of that courtesy, that ur- 
bane deportment that is the fruit of a kind 
heart, it is both the friend and promoter. 

In bringing this Talk to a close, I would 
offer a thought or two on a passage of Scrip- 
ture that has a special application to the 
fairer sex. "As a jewel of gold in a swine's 
snout," says Solomon, " so is a fair woman 
which is without discretion." However in- 
elegant this comparison may be, it is cer- 
tainly quite pithy and quite suggestive. 
"Whether any swine ever had its nose thus 
decorated or not, Solomon supposes such a 
thing, and on it he founds a comparison that 
is striking, witty, and instructive. Look now 



LESSER BENEFITS OF BIBLE STUDY. 191 

at this grotesque picture, a swine in whose 
snout glitters a golden jewel, and see how 
the senseless brute ever and anon plunges 
its body, jeweled snout and all, into the mire. 
Is that jewel of gold in keeping with the char- 
acter and habits of the animal that wears it? 
Does it really adorn a swine's snout? 
Though the jewel itself is beautiful, is there 
not a painful incongruity between it and the 
place it occupies ? Turn now with me and 
survey this handsome woman that Solomon 
places before us. Personal beauty is always 
prepossessing, and there are few, if any, that 
are insensible to the attractions of a hand- 
some face. What then is to forbid our ad- 
miring the " fair woman " that is now before 
us? Alas, she "is without discretion.'" Her 
conversation and demeanor evince that she., 
lacks that maidenly circumspection, that- 
nice sense of propriety which constitutes the 
discreet woman, enabling her to act becom-. 
ingly at all times and in all circumstances. 
Now when — as is sometimes the case — a lady 
has a fine face and a captivating personal 



192 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

appearance, but lacks those qualities of mind 
and heart that the word discretion indicates ; 
when it is painfully apparent that the hand- 
some face is her sole capital, and that within 
there is naught but a mental and moral 
waste, we instinctively feel that after all she 
is not handsome ; or rather that beauty, in 
her, is misplaced and valueless, like the " jew- 
el of gold in a swine's snout." 

If the foregoing paragraph should meet 
the eye of any handsome ladies, they will 
please remember that the writer did not mean 
them ! It is taken for granted that, with them, 
the fine face is associated with refinement 
and dignity, with a cultivated mind and win- 
ning manners, and with the crowning excel- 
lence of all, a benevolent heart. Beauty of 
countenance is not to be undervalued by any 
one, and least of all by a lady. By enhanc- 
ing a woman's attractiveness it augments her 
influence and her power of doing good. But 
for a fine looking woman to be " without dis- 
cretion" is a deficiency for which personal 
charms can make no atonement. Moral 



LESSEE BENEFITS OF BIBLE STUDY. 193 

beauty is worth vastly more than that which 
is personal and evanescent. " Beauty is 
vain," says the wise Solomon, " but a woman 
that feareth the Lord, slie shall be praised" 
No better portrait of a fine woman has ever 
been sketched than that with which the Book 
of Proverbs closes. What wife or mother 
could wish for a loftier eulogy than this : 
" She openeth her mouth with wisdom, and in 
her tongue is the law of kindness. She look- 
ed well to the ways of her household, and 
eateth not the bread of idleness. Her chil- 
dren arise up and call her blessed, her hus- 
band also, and he praiseth her." And what 
a benefactor has the Bible been to the 
female sex ! It has not only drawn an admi- 
rable portrait of the good woman, the true 
lady, but it has done more to improve 
woman's condition and character than all 
other agencies. From a state of serfdom 
and social degradation it has lifted woman 
to her true position, has invested her with 
her true dignity. None have more occasion 

to bless God for the beneficial influence of 
17* 



194 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

the Bible than she whom a poet has styled 
"Heaven's last, best gift." 

I am far from having exhausted the sec- 
ondary benefits resulting from the possession 
and study of the Bible. I hope, however, 
that what I have written will serve to pro- 
mote a livelier sense of the Bible's utility, 
and its adaptedness to man's temporal well- 
being. May I and my readers make this 
Book our vade mecum, our every day coun- 
selor, our guide in things belonging to this 
life. And in the day of final account may it 
be seen that the Book which had promoted 
our earthly good, had also made us spiritually 
wise," wise unto salvation !" 



AN ANCIENT TALE LLODERNIZED. 195 



TALK VII. 



A TALE OF THE OLDEN TIME REPRODUCED AND 
MODERNIZED, AND THE INSTRUCTION IT CON- 
VEYS GARNERED UP. 

Aware as I am how very partial all read- 
ers — youthful ones especially — are to a story, 
I have a true one to relate, a biographical 
incident of ancient times, which I am sure 
you will join me in pronouncing a very in- 
teresting and richly instructive tale. I gather 
the main facts of the story that follows from 
an ancient work in my possession, and will 
relate them with historical fidelity ; but for 
reasons that I need not name, the language 
of the story will be mine, and when there is 
occasion to speak of persons and places, fic- 
titious names will be substituted for the real 
ones. In short, this ancient tale will be re- 
produced in a modern dress, but the leading 



19G TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

incidents may be relied on as having actually 
occurred. 

THE STOBY. 

Imbosomed amid vine-clad hills and groves 
of oak and fir, stood a small but very ancient 
Oriental city which I shall call Khirassin. 
Here once dwelt — it was many centuries 
ago — a venerable old sheik, of large means 
and eminent piety, whom we will here desig- 
nate as Binaldo. Death had robbed him of 
her who had long shared life's duties with 
him, and now that he w r as companionless and 
advanced in years, his anxieties and hopes 
were mainly concentrated upon his son Os- 
mond. As was natural, the thoughtful father, 
not knowing how soon he might be summoned 
on high, wished to see his dear Osmond set- 
tled in life, and building up a household of 
his own. A wife for this son might easily 
have been found in or near Khirassin ; for to 
have affinity with so affluent and dignified 
a family as Binaldo's would have been deemed 
a high honor. But it was Einaldo's misfor- 



AN ANCIENT TALE MODEENIZED. 197 

tune to dwell among a people that worshiped 
idols, and not Jehovah ; and, as was natural 
and proper, he deprecated the idea of Os- 
mond's contracting a union with one who, 
herself an idolater, might become an enticer 
and a snare to him. In this dilemma he 
bethought himself of Vindon, a place several 
lundred miles from Khirassin, where some 
relatives of his resided, and where some 
knowledge of the true God yet prevailed ; 
and he resolved on sending a messenger 
thither in search of a suitable partner for Os- 
mond. Accordingly he called up a long-tried 
and pious servant of his, Lewellyn by name, 
and formally commissioned him to undertake 
a journey to Yindon for the purpose that has 
just been named. " But what, " asked the 
cautious Lewellyn, " if no Vindon damsel can 
b>e prevailed on to expatriate herself and 
come with me for Osmond's sake? If no one 
is found that's willing to marry Osmond un- 
less he'll consent to reside there, must he go 
"there?" "No," said Einaldo, "Osmond 
must abide here ; and if no Yindon woman 



198 TALKS TO WT BEBLE-CLASS'. 

can be induced to return with you, then, my 
faithful Lewellyn, your responsibility in this 
matter will cease. It's my firm conviction, 
however, that He whom I worship and con- 
fide in will prosper this expedition. So make 
ready and set out for Vindon.' , Thus in- 
structed, Lewellyn got together several of his: 
master's beasts of burden — for saddled beasts 
and not carriages were then the conveyance 
most used by travelers — and, accompanied 
by a few under servants as aids, started oil 
his journey — a journey, as we see, that was 
somewhat unique in its character. The work 
from which I derive my story gives none of 
the circumstantial details of the journey 
itself ; such as the route they took, their rate 
of progress, the time it took to reach Yindon, 
and things of this sort. By inspecting a map, 
however, I find that, allowing them to have 
averaged seventy miles a day, the journey to 
Yindon must have required very near a week. 
Omitting such details as these, the story lets 
us know, incidentally, that in or near Yindon 
was a town-well, and that — as was customary 



m ANCIENT TALE MODERNIZED. 199 

with nearly all the Orientals — the women of 
that place were in the habit of resorting 
thither daily, to draw water for domestic use, 
and for the flocks and herds. Evening, and 
the hour for women to be at the well were 
just at hand as the good Lewellyn and his 
aids rode up and dismounted. And now, 
standing by the well and knowing that some 
of Vindon's ladies would soon be there, what 
think you was Lewellyn' s first step? Do 
not smile, reader, when I tell you — it teas to 
pray. Standing there to act for another 
whom he loved, and feeling that at this crisis 
he needed the special guidance of his own 
and his master's God, the devout Lewellyn 
breathed out an ejaculatory prayer for help, 
and this was substantially the prayer he 
prayed : " O Thou whom Binaldo my master 
adores, prosper Thou me his servant in the 
business that has brought me hither, even 
the selection of a companion for my master's 
son. And that I may know what maiden 
Thou in Thy purpose hast marked out as 
Osmond's future wife, grant Thou me this 



200 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

token : When the women of Vindon come to 
draw water, and when I, fixing my choice on 
one of them, shall ask her to let me drink, 
do Thou, O Lord, indicate the one whom 
Thou hast chosen by influencing her that I 
ask for drink to respond, Drink, stranger, 
and when you've slaked your thirst, I will 
water these beasts of yours too. " Scarcely 
had this ejaculation ascended from Lewel- 
lyn's heart before a fine-looking young 
woman was seen approaching the well, fur- 
nished with a jar, or vessel for procuring 
water. Her prepossessing looks and manner 
at once riveted Lewellyn's admiring gaze, 
and no sooner had she filled her jar than he, 
yielding to the promptings of his own taste, 
put her the question, Will you let me drink ? 
With an alacrity that bespoke an unselfish, 
generous heart, did the modest Imogene 
proffer him drink ; and then, unsolicited by 
any one, she offered to water all those thirs- 
ty beasts of his, and at once proceeded to do 
it. Lewellyn, ungailant as it might seem in 
him and his men, suffered her to execute 



AX ANCIENT TALE MODERNIZED. 201 

this task, for it was thus that God was an- 
swering liis prayer ; and in silent admiration 
lie stood looking on till the beasts had done 
drinking. He then opened a package of 
jewelry that he had provided himself with, 
and taking from it a golden ear-ring and a 
heavy pair of gold bracelets, he first placed 
them upon her, and then inquired who her 
father was, and whether he and his men 
could probably be entertained over night at 
her father's. He was gratified to find, by her 
reply, that Anselmo, her father, was a relative 
of his master's, and that there was ample 
room there for him and his company. And 
now this devout servant, deeply penetrated 
with a sense of the divine goodness in guid- 
ing him thus prosperously, reverently bowed 
his head in the worship of Einaldo's God. 
Meanwhile away ran Imogene to acquaint 
the folks at home with what had transpired, 
and no sooner was the news announced there 
than Eanzival, Imogene' s brother, hastened 
to the well and welcomed the strangers to 

the hospitalities of Anselmo's mansion. As 
18 



202 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

soon as tlie beasts were stabled and fed, a 
supper was prepared, but when the guests 
were invited to refresh themselves, Lewellvn 
said, "Having come a long journey on a very 
important errand, I will not eat till I have 
made known that errand and learned whether 
I'm to have success. " And then this unself- 
ish man laid before them, with some minute- 
ness, the business that had brought him to 
Vindon, and the history of the whole trans- 
action up to present date. After telling 
them who had sent him, and on what errand, 
he took care to let them know that his master 
was rich, and that he had made Osmond, for 
whom a partner was now sought, sole heir to 
his large estate. Then he told them what 
had transpired at the well — how he had 
prayed, and how Imogene had responded to 
his request for drink precisely as he had 
prayed that some damsel might respond. 
Having recounted all these things, he wound 
up his very effective speech by saying, "And 
now, friends, my story is before you ; you are 
fully apprised of the object that has brought 



AN ANCIENT TALE MODERNIZED. 203b 

me hither, and I have only to ask, What an- 
swer am I to carry back ? Whether favorable 
or unfavorable, tell me what message you 
have for my revered master." After a mo- 
ment's pause Kanzival and Anselmo both 
exclaimed, "The great Disposer of events 
has decided this question for us, and how 
can w r e say No, when He has so obviously 
instructed us to say Yes ? Imogene may and 
must be the wife of Osmond, for it is plain 
that God has purposed it." Scarcely had 
they finished when the pious Lewellyn, his 
heart full to overflowing, was seen to be en- 
gaged in silent devotion and thanksgiving- 
He then produced various articles of jewelry 
and of apparel, and bestowed them on the 
bride elect, and also on her mother and bro- 
ther. And now, the great object on which 
his heart was set being accomplished, that 
postponed supper was in order ; and we may 
w r ell believe that by Lewellyn, at least, it was 
eaten with a grateful heart, and that he went 
to his bed that night with a profounder sense 
than ever of God's agency in human affairs-. 



204 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

and of His willingness to guide and prosper 
those that "commit their way unto" Him. 
What Imogene's thoughts and emotions 
were on that memorable night we can well 
conjecture, but will attempt no description. 

Morning has now come, and as Lewellyn 
and his men obey the call to breakfast, what 
do you think he proposes, or asks the 
family's consent to do ? It will surprise you 
to hear that he wanted to take Imogene and 
-set out for Khirassin, that very day ! To 
this the parents and brother demurred, and 
suggested a postponement of the journey for 
at least a short period. But the energetic, 
self-forgetting Lewellyn could not be per- 
suaded to change his mind, or consent to the 
proposed delay. " Since the Lord has so 
signally prospered this my mission," said he, 
" detain me not, but without delay have Im- 
ogene in readiness, and send me away." 
" "Well," said they, when thus urged by Lew- 
ellyn, " we will see what Imogene says to 
this. It will have to be as she decides." 
So she was called, and told that Lewellyn 



AN ANCIENT TALE MODERNIZED. 205 

wished lier to be in immediate readiness to 
go with him to Khirassin. " What say you, 
girl, are yon willing to quit the parental 
roof in such haste ?" " Yes, I will go now," 
was the naive reply of the ingenuous maiden, 
and she at once set about preparing. It 
would have been natural for a lady, at such 
an eventful hour, to have stipulated for a 
delay of a few weeks, or at least of several 
days — for time to have a bridal dress pre- 
pared, and a riding habit, and various other 
etceteras, and time to have a farewell party 
at her father's before quitting Vindon for- 
ever. Imogene, however, seems not to have 
lingered for things of this kind, and the story 
makes it certain that she got herself ready 
to leave very soon after Lewellyn's arrival, if 
not the very day after. 

Well, the parting hour has arrived : tender 
adieus are exchanged, the solemn benedic- 
tions of brother and parents are pronounced, 
and then Imogene and her maidens are assist- 
ed to mount the piliioned beasts that were 

;at the door, and off starts for Khirassin the 

18* 



206 TALES TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

good Lewellyn, not now the anxious wife- 
agent, but the proud conductor of a bridal 
cavalcade. 

It would enhance the interest of our story- 
somewhat, were it in my power to relate witk 
circumstantial minuteness all the incidents 
that befell the bridal party in their journej 
from Yindon to Khirassin. I would like to 
tell you, for instance, where and how often 
they halted for refreshments, and what their 
refreshments consisted of ; where they put 
up, nights, and whether they found caravan- 
saries to lodge in, or had to encamp in the 
open air ; whether Imogene and her maids, 
unused as they doubtless were to so long a 
journey and to such a mode of conveyance, 
stood the jolting well, and escaped having 
violent headaches and ruffled tempers ; with 
various particulars of this sort which, unim- 
portant as they intrinsically are, we never- 
theless like to be told. Especially do I wish 
that I were able to detail the particulars of 
the wedding that ensued just after the arri- 
val of the bridal party at Khirassin. How it 



AN ANCIENT TALE MODERNIZED. 207 

would gratify us all to know whether the 
wedding took place at Rinaldo's, and how 
many and who were present ; who officiated 
in solemnizing the nuptials, and whether, as 
with us, he had to be assisted by any one ; 
just how Imogene and Osmond were dressed, 
and whether any lady and gentleman stood 
up with them ; whether Leicelhjn — for there's. 
no doubt lie was present — didn't shed some 
tears as he looked on and saw his late mis- 
sion consummated in the marriage of his 
dear young master ; whether the happy 
groom and bride took a wedding tour, or 
not ; together with all the etceteras belong- 
ing to an occasion of this sort. "With all 
these particulars would I like to enliven my 
tale, but historical fidelity compels me to 
confess, that on these points my authority i& 
silent. And all that it enables me to add,. 
in the way of sober history, is that when 
Lew^eUyn and party had nearly reached Khi- 
rassin, a man was seen approaching who ap- 
peared to be wrapped in thought. In the 
expression of his countenance one might 



208 TALKS TO MT BIBLE-CLASS. 

have detected, perhaps, an air of eager ex- 
pectation, as well as of devotion. "Lew- 
ellyn, what man is that?" asked Imogene. 
It was probably with a suppressed chuckle 
and a merry twinkle of the eye that he 
answered, " What man is that ? Why, Im- 
ogene, that's my young master — that's Os- 
mond." At this announcement she slipped 
from her pillion to the ground, and, as cus- 
tom then required, at once veiled herself ; 
and then occurred her first interview with 
him whose loved and loving companion she 
very soon became. It proved a happy 
union, and their conjugal career was long 
and prosperous. The venerable Binaldo 
lived to see, and caress, and counsel and 
pray for, two twinborn grandsons, the fruit 
of Osmond's marriage. Indeed the boys 
had reached the age of fifteen before their 
aged grandsire was summoned away. La- 
den with years and ripe for heaven, Einaldo 
died, and in the family sepulchre at Khiras- 
sin, where his own dear Theresa had long 
slumbered, they laid him ; an elder son unit- 



AN ANCIENT TALE MODERNIZED. 209 

ing with Osmond in rendering funeral hon- 
ors to their lamented sire. In that same 
sepulchre, man}' years afterward, were laid 
to rest the hero and heroine of this com- 
pleted story, Osmond and Imogene. 

The story utilized, and its instruction treas- 
ured up. 

And now, reader, since it is always wise, 
as suggested by a Latin poet, to " mingle the 
useful with the agreeable," let us review and 
analyze this tale of ancient days, and gather 
up the instruction it contains. 

Well, the first thing to arrest our atten- 
tion, as we read this story, is the wide and, 
to us, strange difference between the customs 
and social usages of that ancient jieriod, and 
those that prevail among us. To us, for in- 
stance, it seems very odd and almost ludic- 
rous that Osmond, if he wanted a wife, was 
not allowed to look about and select one for 
himself. Indeed I seem to hear some reader 
say, " "What right had Einaldo to manage the 
whole matter, without so much as consulting 



210 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

his son ? And as for Osmond, must lie not 
have been a little soft, to let his father make 
a nobody of him in a business of such vital 
importance? And then there's Imogene — 
what a ninny she must have been to allow 
herself to be courted by proxy, and bargain- 
ed away by her parents and brother without 
their so much as saying, By your leave I 
Just think of it — a young lady consenting to 
go several hundred miles to marry a man 
whom she had never seen, and who had not 
himself solicited her hand !" Well, reader, 
such facts do seem strange ; and if a lady 
were now sought for in the queer way that 
Imogene was, I am a little afraid she would 
bridle up and with a curled lip say, " If that 
gentleman, living five hundred miles away, 
wants me for a wife, I guess he'll have to be 
a personal suitor, instead of letting his father 
be the engineer. And what's more, I guess 
he'll have to come after me himself, with 
phaeton or chaise, and not expect me to go 
in so ungenteel and fatiguing a way, with 
nobody but his servant for my escort !" And 



AN ANCIENT TALE MODERNIZED. 211 

"then if, in our day, fathers and mothers 
-should think to contract their sons and 
daughters in marriage, instead of letting them 
choose for themselves, what a nice little do- 
mestic rebellion would be witnessed in all 
our households ! " Father," our modern Os- 
jnonds and Imogenes would probably be 
Jieard to say, " I presume you mean well, but 
I rather think I shall act my own pleasure as 
to getting married ; and if I should choose 
to marry, I'll excuse you, father, from assum- 
ing the position of manager !" We see, 
gentle reader, that our ways and usages and 
notions of propriety differ widely from those 
that our story acquaints us with. And we 
jio doubt think — and with good reason per- 
haps — that the customs of this refined age 
.are far the best ; and how such customs as 
those I have depicted ever came to prevail 
may have seemed unaccountable to some. 
.But it is well to remember that for wise rea- 
sons different branches of the human family 
.are made to differ in manners and customs, as 
well as in color, stature, and other things, 



212 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

and tliat the polish and refinements of mod- 
ern society are by no means essential to 
happiness. While I am far from undervalu- 
ing these refinements, I am not sure but 
that the people of Binaldo's day were about 
as good and happy as though their ways and 
customs had been identical with ours. And 
I can not help admiring the filial tractableness 
displayed by Osmond and by Xmogene, while 
dwelling with their parents, and contrasting 
it with that unseemly independence, that ir- 
reverence, and that impatience of restraint 
which, in our day, are quite too common a 
characteristic of unwedcled sons and daugh- 
ters. 

I trust we shall none of us dislike Einaldo, 
or pronounce him an old fogy, because of 
his unwillingness to have his beloved Os- 
mond the husband of a lady reared amid 
heathenism. Was it not wise in him to 
have much solicitude as to the kind of com- 
panion his son was to have ? And is any 
father or mother worthy of praise, that can 
be indifferent on so vital a question as this ? 



AN ANCIENT TAEE MODERNIZED. 213 

Had the religiously educated Osmond mar- 
ried a heathen, think you his married life 
would have been equally happy, and equally 
honored of God ? If not, why would it not 
be well for all pious gentlemen and ladies,, 
in choosing or accepting a partner for life, to 
make a reverence for God and sacred things 
one of the indispensables ? " What com- 
munion hath light with darkness ? And 
what concord hath Christ with Belial?' 5 
" Can two walk together except they be 
agreed?" 

The profitableness of connecting prayer 
with the business of this life, is one of the les- 
sons that the foregoing story should imprint 
on every mind. Who would venture to af- 
firm that Lewellyn's mission would have 
been just as successful without prayer as 
with ? Is it not obvious that the prayer he 
offered at the well was accepted of God, and 
had an influence in bringing about the result 
he desired ? Now if it was both proper and 
profitable for Lewellyn to connect prayer 

-with a secular enterprise, would it not be 
19 



214 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

equally so for us ? The business lie was ex- 
ecuting was no more important than are 
the enterprises we are engaged in, and in- 
voking the guidance and blessing of God was 
no more suitable or useful then than now. 
Reader, it is only the unwise and the vile 
that say, " What profit should we have if we 
pray unto Him." In every age of the world 
the pious have found it eminently profitable 
to pray. An excellent rule for every one to 
adopt would be, never to engage in any busi- 
ness on which God's blessing cannot be con- 
scientiously invoked, and never to undertake 
a business or enterprise that is proper, with- 
out seeking counsel and success at the hand 
of the Lord. For " who is he that saith — i. e. 
forms a purpose, or undertakes an enter- 
prise — and it cometh to pass, when the Lord 
commandeth it not ?" "With infinite ease can 
the great Disposer frustrate the schemes we 
embark in, and not one of them will prosper 
if He " commandeth it not." It is always 
wise, therefore, to consult Him in all oar af- 
fairs, secular as well as spiritual. " Except 



AN ANCIENT TALE MODERNIZED. 215 

the Lord build the house, they labor in vain 
that build it.' 7 

Another piece of instruction which our 
story incidentally furnishes is this : That 
the union of two persons in marriage is not 
wholly their own uninfluenced act y not a union 
that was planned and effected solely by them- 
selves, and with which God had nothing to 
do ; but that every such union is a matter of 
divine appointment, or the result of God's 
previous purpose. I trust that no reader 
failed to notice how Lewellyn, in his brief 
prayer at the well, besought the Lord to in- 
dicate the lady whom He had chosen, or ap- 
pointed to be the companion of Osmond, 
and how acceptable to God his prayer obvi- 
ously was. Now if Lewellyn was right, and 
if the union of Osmond with Imogene was 
a divinely appointed and predetermined 
event, must not the same be true of all mar- 
riages ? In affirming, as a quaint old saying 
does, that " matches are made in heaven," 
what do we but reiterate the very sentiment, 
substantially, that Lewellyn's prayer ex- 



216 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

pressed ? Now if it be true that all mar- 
riages are predetermined events, we at once 
^arrive at this irresistible conclusion : What- 
ever takes place was predetermined — was em- 
braced in the purpose of Him who knoweth 
all things, and that declareth " the end from 
the beginning." It seems from our story, 
that long before Calvin, or St. Augustine, or 
even Paul was born — yes, and before there 
was any Bible to proclaim the above truth, 
there were some believers in predestination. 
Our friend Lewellyn — who lived some cen- 
turies before even the Boots of Moses were 
written — was, we see, a predestinarian ; and 
I hope we none of us like him any the less 
for that. 

Just here an interrogatory whisper seems 
to break on my ear — " Are not all predestin- 
arians fatalists? Is not this their belief, that 
if an event is to take place, or has been fore- 
ordained, it will inevitably come to pass, 
whether means are employed to bring it 
&bout or not ? And if Lewellyn really believed 
that, long before his going to Vindon in 



AN ANCIENT TALE MODEKNIZED. 217 

search of a wife for Osmond, the Lord had 
picked one out for him, why did he not let 
ilie Lord bring the chosen one to Osmond in 
His own time, without any of his officious 
intermeddling ? "What need was there of his 
taking that wife-hunting journey at all ? But 
if he must pry into the Lord's business, and 
get Him to indicate what maiden was to be 
Osmond's wife, how came he, when the Lord 
had indicated the chosen one, to proceed just 
as though success depended on his own saga- 
cious and strenuous efforts ? "Where was the 
use of his bestowing costly gifts on Imogene 
and her mother and brother, of telling them 
how rich Osmond was, or was to be, or of his 
making the persuasive speech that he did ? 
After the Lord had, by a certain sign, pointed 
Imogene out as Osmond's predestined part- 
ner, ought not a pTedestinarian to haye hur- 
ried back to Khirassin, and left the Lord to 
execute His own design, unaided by any hu- 
man agent?" Have I any readers that are 
inclined to ask or to indorse such questions 

as these ? If I have, they will pardon me for 
19* 



218 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

saying, You greatly misapprehend the Bible 
doctrine of predestii* ^tion, and the views of 
those who embrace it ; and all such inferences 
from it as the foregoing are wholly unwarran- 
ed. Between the doctrine in question and 
fatalism there is a world-wide and radical 
difference. God's purpose to have any given 
event take place, always includes all the 
means that are to be used for executing that 
purpose, or having that event take place. 
Hence predestinarians, though fully assured 
that the purposes of God embrace all things 
that ever transpire, do what Lewellyn did, 
and labor as energetically to accomplish a 
given object as though God had no purpose 
respecting it, or as though the result depend- 
ed solely on themselves. Conscious of the 
connection existing between ends and means, 
they industriously employ such means as 
seem adapted to secure success ; always 
remembering, however, that means have no 
inherent, self-executing efficacy, and will fail 
unless God blesses them. 

Again : We are impressed, as we peruse 



AN ANCIENT TALE MODERNIZED. 219 

this tale of the olden time, with the delight- 
ful simplicity of manners that distinguished 
that period ; and especially with the artless- 
ness, the naivete that characterized Imogene. 
We moderns would hardly have expected 
that a delicate female, on meeting several 
strangers at a well, would have volunteered 
to water the animals they rode, the men> 
meanwhile standing idly by and looking on. 
It would in our day be deemed an act of un- 
looked for kindness — yea, almost an unbe- 
coming act, for a lady to perform a menial 
service like this, and that, too, with men look- 
ing on who ought, seemingly, to have water- 
ed the beasts themselves. But the kind- 
hearted Imogene deemed it neither unbe- 
coming nor undignified to evince her benev- 
olence in the way she did : and the sequel 
proved that that one kind, unselfish act of 
hers was richly rewarded. It had the seal 
of God's approbation, and it was made to 
result in great good to herself. I am justi- 
fied in pronouncing it an unselfish act, for at 
the time it was performed she was totally ig- 



220 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

norant who Lewellyn was, or for what pur- 
pose lie had come to Yindon ; ignorant, too, 
of the payer he had offered, and of the sign 
he had fixed upon as an indication of God's 
choice and his own success. We are charm- 
'ed with Imogene's manners and character, as 
developed in our story, but it is a sad 
thought that, were she living now and among 
■us, we might have had no such character to 
admire. If, instead of belonging to a bygone 
age and an oriental country, she had been 
reared amid all the refinements and etiquette 
of modern times and of fashionable circles, 
might she not have scorned to be seen water- 
ing a stranger's beasts, or accompanying that 
stranger to a far distant spot to marry one 
whom she knew only by hearsay, and who 
had not been gallant enough to woo her in 
person ? Who knows, in fact, but that the 
charming Imogene of our story might have 
arrayed herself a-la Bloomer, or been a prom- 
inent member of a Woman's Eights Associa- 
tion, or gone about as a lecturer on Female 
Suffrage and woman's wrongs ! Well, there 



AN ANCIENT TALE MODEENIZED. 221 

is this one and sole consolation in contem- 
plating the possibility of so great a change 
in Osmond's handsome wife : some of us 
would be in little or no danger of breaking 
that clause of the Tenth Commandment 
which says, " Thou shalt not coyet thy neigh- 
bor's wife !" 

I should feel that I had done great injus- 
tice to one who figures conspicuously in our 
story, and had left out an important part of 
the instruction, if I failed of directing special 
attention to the character of Leiuellyn. For 
mingled simplicity and shrewdness, for deep- 
toned piety and a rare, unselfish fidelity, 
what a pattern man that servant was ! 
Among all the characters that history ac- 
quaints us with, where find we one that is 
more to be lauded ? Where find a finer ex- 
ample of a self -forgetting devotion to the 
interests of another? Behold him, at the 
close of a long and fatiguing journey, refus- 
ing to eat till he had made known his errand. 
Behold him asking to be sent back to his 
master the very day after his reaching Vin- 



222 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

don. How rare a thing is it for servants or 
agents to be as disinterested and faithful as 
that ! He was no common man, or he would, 
after learning the success of his mission, 
have voted himself at least a fortnight's va- 
cation, and spent the time in visiting, sight- 
seeing, making excursions, and various other 
diversions. I tell you, reader, Lewellyn, 
though a servant, was one of God's noble- 
men, and if there are gradations of rank in 
heaven, he unquestionably occupies a high 
position there. Should I be so blessed of 
God as to reach that pure world, I shall 
want to identify and enjoy personal commun- 
ion with that ancient predestinarian, the 
faithful, the devout, the noble Lewellyn. 
"Would that there were more Lewellyns in this 
selfish, sin-stricken world of ours! In his 
disinterestedness, his singular trustfulness, 
and his devout recognition of God's agency 
in human affairs, let ns strive to resemble 
that pious servant of the olden time. 
"Whether we are servants or grandees, ob- 



AN ANCIENT TALE MODERNIZED. 223 

scare or illustrious, it will ennoble us all to 
be Lewellyns. 

In bringing this seventh. Talk to a close, it 
occurs to me that some readers may have 
been sufficiently interested in the foregoing 
" Tale of the olden time " to make them de- 
sirous of knowing where I found it, and wheth- 
er the rusty old volume from which I derived 
it contains any thing else that is interesting or 
instructive. I can assure those whose curi- 
osity has been awakened, that this antique 
volume abounds in historical facts and bio- 
graphical portraits that are quite as enter- 
taining and well drawn as any we are now 
having presented. It is in fact replete with 
rich literary morceaus, quite too precious to 
be lost, or withheld from the public eye. I 
am delighted to find that, in book-making, 
and the art of making a book that is reada- 
ble and even enchaining, the days of yore 
compare very favorably with our own times. 
Indeed I am not sure but the old work I 
have referred to goes ahead, to speak collo- 
quially, of any of the books that are now 



224 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

produced. I would only add, that I will 
cheerfully loan this ancient yolume to any 
whose curiosity may prompt them to become 
borrowers, or will assist in any effort that is 
made, or measure that is resorted to, for 
bringing it before an admiring public. 



CHOOSING ONE'S VOCATION. 225 



TALK VIII. 



Parting words of counsel to the young. 

In this our closing interview my youthful 
readers will please accept a few additional 
words of counsel from one who is anxious to 
do them good, and who, having passed over 
the road w^hich they are yet to travel, hopes 
that they will find him a reliable and judi- 
cious adviser. 

Fiest. — Choosing ones vocation, or mode of 
acquiring property and maintaining himself 
and others, is to the young — and especially 
to young men — a matter of much importance ; 
and it is hoped that a monitory word or two 
on this theme wdll not be deemed unnecessa- 
ry or impertinent. There are those with 
whom, in deciding on a vocation, the only 
question is, "What business will pay the best ? 
They are prepared to choose and pursue any 
calling that is highly remunerative, without 

pausing to inquire whether the influence and 
20 



226 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

effect of that calling on society is profitable 
or prejudicial. The principle which seems 
to govern them may be thus expressed : It 
is right to pursue any business for which 
there is any demand, to traffic in or vend 
any thing that men wish to buy, irrespective 
of the consequences that may accrue to cus- 
tomers, or to society at large. It is this prin- 
ciple, combined with an undue love of money, 
that prompts some to become the lessees or 
managers of theatres ; some, the venders of 
lottery tickets, or of impure, demoralizing 
books and pictures ; some, the makers or 
venders of liquid poisons of all kinds ; some, 
the keepers of dance-houses and gambling 
saloons ; and some, the keepers of those dens 
of prostitution which are one of the direct 
gateways to hell. There is no occupation so 
disreputable or so demoralizing, but that the 
love of gain has induced some men to engage 
in it. 

Now what is the principle that should 
govern one in deciding what business he will 
pursue ? What is the reply that every en- 



CHOOSING ONE'S VOCATION. 227 

lightened conscience would make but this : 
In choosing a vocation I am morally bound 
to have respect to the general welfare, as 
well as my own, and to leave untouched any 
and every pursuit that is known to exert a 
pernicious influence. I am bound, in short, 
to pursue no business on which I cannot 
conscientiously invoke the blessing of Him 
who has said, " Thou shalt love thy neighbor 
as thyself." Any business that is injurious 
in its tendency and effects, or that would 
conflict with my personal obligations to God, 
I must not pursue. Now if the above rule 
commends itself to the conscience as just, 
then there are other modes of acquiring a 
support that are inadmissible, besides those 
that were named a moment ago. Would not 
this rule prevent a conscientious man from 
carrying on or patronizing a Sabbath-break- 
ing cheese factory ? Would it allow of his 
accepting appointments, or investing money 
in enterprises that required a desecration of 
at least a part of the Lord's day ? Would 
it sanction such things as gold and stock 



228 TALES TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

gambling, "gift enterprises," and other 
forms of speculation that prevail ? Say, thou 
inward monitor, would not such modes of 
acquisition conflict with my obligations to 
God and my neighbor ? And my conscience's 
reply is, They tvould. She urges me, in truth, 
to name one more employment which, because 
it proves injurious, she would gladly keep 
men from pursuing — tobacco-growing and its 
adjuncts, the manufacture and sale of tobac- 
co. O that the Lord would raise up a host 
of George Teasks to prosecute with energy 
the work which that eminent anti-tobacco 
champion has recently been called to relin- 
quish, that he might dwell in a world that is 
untainted with the fumes of that noxious, 
disgusting weed ! 

If I mistake not there is a growing prone- 
ness, in the young men of this country, to 
disesteem and pass by, as employments that 
are undignified or too laborious, agriculture 
and other kinds of manual toil, and to ac- 
cumulate property by sagacious speculation 
.rather than by patient, persevering industry. 



CHOOSING OK ACCEPTING A PAETNEE. 22 

By many a youth who is considering what his 
yocation shall be, that ancient, honorable, 
healthful, and safest of all secular employ- 
ments, the culture of the earth, is not chos- 
en because, forsooth, pride whispers that one 
<3an not well be a farmer and a gentleman too, 
ot because he is anxious to become rich in 
haste, and deems farming quite too slow and 
too toilsome a method of accumulating. How 
very unwise, how deluded are they who, in 
their choice of a vocation, are swayed by 
such notions as these. And what shall we 
say of the youthful adventurers who, forsak- 
ing the country and country pursuits, rush 
in great numbers to our large cities to " seek 
'uheir fortunes " there ? Are they wise? Let 
£he many who have tried this and been sadly 
disappointed answer the question. 

Second. — Choosing or accepting a companion 

for life is another matter in which one's 

happiness and prosperity in life are deeply 

involved; and I trust that a few words of 

counsel to the young on that theme will not 

-prove unacceptable. That it was our Maker's 
20* 



230 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

design and is expedient that most persons 
should marry, is quite evident. It is but 
obeying an impulse which God has for very 
wise reasons implanted within us, and Paul's 
caveat against marriage is not to be regarded 
as constituting a general rule. Man is so 
constituted that he needs something to 
anchor him, something to love and labor for, 
and marriage supplies the anchor, and the 
needed incentive to persevering effort. To 
many a young man a wife and family are 
well nigh a necessity, if you would keep him 
from leading an aimless, roving, unstable life, 
or, what is worse, a life of idleness and dissi- 
pation. Becoming a husband or wife not 
only develops energies and affections that 
might otherwise remain dormant, but in the 
case of thousands it exerts a meliorating in- 
fluence on the heart and life. And yet in 
thousands of instances marriage proves no 
blessing, but a curse. Without pausing to 
show why this is so, the fact itself should 
impress those w T ho are contemplating mar- 
riage with the importance of observing cir- 



HINTS TO WOOEKS AND THE WOOED. 231 

cunispection and prayerful deliberation, in 
entering on this relation. 

It is scarcely necessary to remind my 
youthful readers that, in forming the con- 
jugal relation, character is or should be the 
all important thing, and that solid and useful 
qualities should be held in higher estimation 
than such things as face, form, dress, prop- 
erty, or elegant accomplishments. To illus- 
trate and impress this truth let me present 
a supposition. Here is a young man of lim- 
ited means, but industrious and energetic, 
who has found him a wife that is very hand- 
some, that can talk a little French and Ger- 
man, and play the piano exquisitely, and 
that has fascinating manners and address. 
She is admirably fitted to grace our friend's 
drawing room when company is there, but 
with kitchen duties, with the cuisine and the 
science of housekeeping she is profoundly 
unfamiliar. All such vulgar offices must be 
performed by a hired cook and a hired 
chambermaid. Has our young friend made 
a wise choice ? Has he obtained just such 



232 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

a companion as lie needs ? Such a wife 
might suit one that rolls in wealth very well, 
but the mass of men need companions that 
are skilled in all the profundities of the culi- 
nary and housekeeping art. If with this 
skill and this willingness to labor, there is 
combined a cultivated mind, feminine delica- 
cy, refined taste and manners, and elegant 
accomplishments, all the better. No sensi- 
ble husband could object to having the same 
delicate hands that were conversant, at one 
time, with the various items of housewifery, 
employed at another in the culture of flow- 
ers, or in " discoursing most eloquent music" 
on the piano. It is well that domestic life 
should have its embellishments and its by- 
play, but its stern, oft-recurring necessities 
and toils must have the first place ; and in 
these toils the wife, if a woman of sound 
views, will deem it both a duty and an honor 
to participate. 

Over against our first supposition let us 
place another. Here is a worthy young lady 
who, not discriminating between gold and 



HINTS TO WOOEKS AND THE WOOED. 233 

its counterfeits, and mistaking the specious 
and showy for the solid, has been duped into 
& union with a fine-looking, well-dressed ex- 
quisite, or gentleman-idler. He has no- 
thing to recommend him unless it be his 
mustache and rattan, his gold watch and 
ring, his rich and fashionable apparel, and 
his very elegant bow and Iwiv-do-you-do. 
"What a pity that she whom he has beguiled 
into a union with him was not . more circum- 
spect and discriminating. How unwise it 
was in her that, instead of accepting this 
mustachioed lounger, this empty exquisite, 
she did not accept that unpolished but true- 
iearted and worthy young farmer whose 
bashful offer she rejected. Ah, how many 
are the ill-sorted and ill-starred marriages 
that have taken place for w r ant of more cau- 
tion, and a nicer discernment of character ! 
Next to genuine affection, the things most 
needed to constitute a happy married life 
.are sound health, business energy, and a 
kind, obliging, confiding disposition — a spirit 
of mutual confidence and sympathy. Often, 



234 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

however, these requisites are lost sight of r 
and marriages are contracted in which mo- 
ney and a showy exterior are made the main 
considerations. 

There are some customs connected with 
the period of courtship in which a reform i& 
needed. "Wooers should devote no part of 
the Lord's Day to those calls and courtesies 
which precede marriage. It would be a de- 
cided improvement if all suitors would take 
a more appropriate time for making their 
calls and paying their attentions, than the 
evening of the Sabbath. Every part of that- 
day should be given to Him who has said,, 
" If thou * * * call the Sabbath a de- 
light * ' * * not doing thine own ways,, 
nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking: 
thine own words." It is time, moreover,, 
that the vulgar custom of a suitor's sitting 
up late at night with her whom he is wooing,, 
was tabooed. If you are a wooer,, and have 
occasion to make evening calls,, there is no 
need of prolonging your stay to an unsea- 
sonable hour, or till all the family have re- 



HINTS TO WOOERS AND THE WOOED. 235 

tired save one ; and it is improper that you 
should. There are opportunities enough 
for becoming well acquainted with her you 
wish to win, or for making a proposal, with- 
out your expecting her to sit up with you 
till after midnight. 

Among the things that all ladies and gen- 
tlemen should despise and abominate, is co- 
quetry or flirtation. There are male as well 
as female coquettes, and it is difficult to say 
which are the most despicable. In the in- 
tercourse of unmarried ladies and gentle- 
men it should be a rule from which there is 
no swerving, never to make or encourage ad- 
vances that indicate something deeper than 
friendship or gallantry, unless that something 
really exists, and unless there is an honest 
intention of following the advances out to 
their proper result. On both sides care 
should be taken to excite no expectations 
that will probably end in disappointment. 
And if a coquettish, fickle spirit should 
never be indulged before an engagement has 
taken place, much less should any inconstan- 



236 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

cy prevail after the parties are engaged. No 
gentleman or lady should rash into an en- 
gagement very hastily ; the matter should 
first be well and prayerfully weighed ; but 
when engagement vows have once been ex- 
changed, the parties should cling to each 
other with a sacred fidelity. Nothing short 
of some extraordinary or very weighty rea- 
son should be allow ed to annul the contract. 
Were I addressing a newly wedded cou- 
ple, my advice to the husband would be, Let 
your companion see that, as a suitor, you 
wore no mask which it is now convenient to 
throw off, and that she stands higher in your 
esteem and affection than all others. In- 
stead of spending your evenings and hours 
of leisure abroad, as many husbands do, 
spend them in your wife's company at home ; 
make her your confidant, your adviser, the 
sharer of your joys and anxieties, and stu- 
diously refrain from wounding her spirit by 
unkindness or neglect. To the recent bride 
I would say, Study to retain and even in- 
tensify your husband's love, by making his 



A SOVEREIGN ANODYNE FOR SORROW. 237 

home the most attractive spot he knows of, 
a delightful retreat from business activities 
and corrosions, and from the roughnesses of 
the outside world. Make that home the 
abode of industry, order, neatness, and 
economy ; not forgetting that at least one 
avenue to a husband's heart is through his 
mouth ! Tou little know how much well pre- 
pared and savory meals will do toward en- 
chaining your husband, and holding him fast 
for life ! Before your union with him he be- 
lieved you an angel, and though you knew 
better, you must come as near to being one, 
or to his beau ideal of womanly perfection, 
as you well can. You are not to expect per- 
fection in him, however, and if he should now 
and then wound you with a cross look or 
word, — which may God forbid — choke down 
that sigh, keep back that tear, and after im- 
printing a kiss on his cheek, retire and pray. 
" In so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire 
on his head." Tou must crucify him with 

kindness. That kiss and that prayer are the 
21 



238 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

best of all weapons to slay liim with. Re- 
port to no other. 

And this paves the way for saying, not to 
the married only but to all others — the young 
particularly — Rely not too confidently on any 
earthly friends, however sincere and true they 
may seem, and do not expect to have your 
pathway through life wholly thornless, your 
cup of enjoyment devoid of a single bitter 
ingredient. It is no unusual thing in human 
experience to have one's best friends prove 
unreliable, and it falls not to the lot of very 
many to be always "hid from the scourge of 
the tongue," to meet with no unjust preju- 
dices, no ill-founded surmisings, no discour- 
teous or unfriendly acts. My youthful read- 
ers will doubtless have their share of these 
discomforts, and the important question is, 
What are you to do with these things w T hen 
they overtake you ? In what spirit must 
life's distasteful things be met, if you would 
have them do you good rather than hurt ? 
In the spirit, I answer, that king David 
evinced when the wicked Shimei cursed and 



A FRIEND THAT'S ALWAYS RELIABLE. 239* 

reviled him. Shimei's act was base and pro- 
yoking in the very highest degree, and had. 
David listened to the counsel of those 
around him, or yielded to the promptings of 
revenge, the reviler would have been instant- 
ly beheaded. But David knew that though 
he merited no such treatment at the hand 
of Shimei, he did deserve chastisement at 
the hand of God ; and viewing this wicked 
man as God's instrument for chastising him,, 
he withheld Abishai from killing Shimei, and 
meekly said, " So let him curse, because the 
Lord hath said unto him, Curse David." 
His meaning was, not that the Lord had ac- 
tually told Shimei to curse David — for in that 
case his doing so would have been a duty — 
but that it was the Lord's purpose that he 
should thus curse ; and regarding Shimei's 
base act as the Lord's righteous act, he 
could submissively say, " Let him alone, and 
let him curse, for the Lord hath bidden him.'* 
It was a sense of the divine agency in what- 
ever transpires that rendered David serene 
and submissive under the galling behavior 



240 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

of Sliimei, and the wide world can furnish 
no such anodyne for a wounded spirit as 
this. If, when bands of marauders had 
robbed Job of his oxen, asses and camels, he 
had not realized that for wise reasons God 
had stirred them up to do it, do you think 
that wronged patriarch would have bowed 
down and exclaimed, " The Lord hath taken 
away, blessed be the name of the Lord ?" 
Would the royal Psalmist, when smarting 
under Shimei's insulting behavior, have said, 
"Let him curse, for the Lord hath bidden 
him," if he had not discerned God, the wise 
and righteous Chastener, using the wicked 
Shimei as a rod ? Would he, on another 
occasion and under some other affliction, 
have exclaimed, " I was dumb, I opened not 
my mouth, because Thou didst it ?" You 
see, my readers, what a soothing medicine 
this sense and recognition of God in all things 
is to all the wronged and afflicted ones who 
have made Him their hope and their friend. 
It greatly consoles them to know that all the 
losses and disappointments and pains that 



A FEIENI) THAT'S ALWAYS RELIABLE. 241 

they are called to sustain — yea more, that all 
the prejudice, or detraction, or insult which 
it is theirs to encounter, constitutes a part of 
their divinely appointed lot — comes from the 
hand of One who is All-wise, who can do no 
injustice, and who will make " all things 
work together for good to them that love 
God." The very discomforts and asperities 
"which anger the worldling, and sometimes 
drive him to desperation, serve to wean the 
Christian from sublunary things, to humble 
and purify him, to draw him closer and 
closer to God. 

To you, beloved members of my Bible 
Class, and to all my readers let me, in part- 
ing, commend this sweetener of life's bitter 
things, this Heaven-appointed anodyne for 
allaying mental pain. "Let Mm pray," is 
the prescription that God gives for him that is 
afflicted, whatever be the source or character 
of that affliction. But of what use would 
prayer be, if the afflicted one does not, as 
Job and David and other Bible saints did, dis- 
cern God's chastising hand in the affliction, 
21* 



242 TALKS TO MY BIBLE-CLASS. 

and feel that it was not only deserved, but 
meant for his good ? Ah, what blessing is 
there, reader, comparable to that of having 
one Friend that is absolutely and always re- 
liable, a Friend who, whether He smiles or 
frowns, prospers or chastises, ever has in 
view the highest ultimate good of thosa 
whom He loves ! " If God be for us, who 
can be against us?" "With Him for your 
friend, you will surpass the millionaires of 
earth in wealth ; for then " all things am 
yours, whether * * * the world, or life, 
or death, or things present, or things to 
come, all are yours!" And why yours? 
Because " ye are Christ's, and Christ is 
God's." To the providential care, the re- 
covering grace, the cleansing and pardoning 
mercy of your Maker and offered Saviour 
would I, as we separate, fervently commend 
you. And if it shall hereafter be seen that 
these Talks, these interviews of mine with you, 
have even in a slight degree promoted your 
good, the praise will belong to Him " whose, 
I am, and whom I " profess to " serve." 



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